Kansas City Royals Pitcher Amir Garrett Tossed His Drink At A Fan

Royals pitcher Amir Garrett has had some high profile incidents with opposing teams, most famously when he singlehandedly charged the entire Pittsburgh Pirates dugout.

He's had disagreements with individual players as well, including run-ins with Javy Baez, and repeatedly yelling at Anthony Rizzo:

But during Tuesday's Royals-White Sox game at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Garrett appeared to lose his cool not at the opposition, but at someone in the stands, tossing his drink at someone in the front row:

The Royals lost the game 9-2, so it's probably a bit unsurprising that Garrett was unhappy.

The fan was almost certainly going after him for something, although it's odd that Garrett specifically was a target considering his only involvement in the game was pitching a scoreless inning.

Garrett responded on Twitter, saying that he wishes he "could go to someone's work and run my mouth," and that "These are grown men talking slick:"

He has a point; very few people have to experience being repeatedly heckled or name called while doing their job. On the other hand, very few people are professional athletes and public figures.

Amir Garrett has been in the major leagues since 2017; it's not as if he's a first year player who's never had to deal with fan criticism or the pressures of pitching on the biggest stage.

Professional athletes, like it or not, are held to a higher standard than other types of work when it comes to ignoring negative attention, and there's no excuse for getting involved as a player by throwing your drink at someone sitting in the stands.

Players have to ignore heckling and maintain their professionalism, even when it's difficult, and Garrett failed to do so.

We'll see what potential punishment he faces from the league, but whatever it is, it can't be much worse than pitching for the 41-63 Royals.