Cardinals give Hancel Rincon another shot after crazy umpire controversy ruined his debut

The first time Hancel Rincon stepped onto a Major League mound, he had to deal with more than the typical adversity that a young arm adjusting to big-league hitters normally does. He had to deal with a moody umpire as well. Hopefully his call up for the St. Louis Cardinals' final series of the season will go more smoothly.

During the game that Rincon debuted at in Coors Field earlier this month, umpire Doug Eddings made a scene when asking Rincon to turn his hat straight after it was slightly tilted, as many players around baseball do. This resulted in manager Oliver Marmol being thrown out of the game for defending his player, and then was followed up by a horrible moment and embarrassment for Eddings.

Eddings, with a play at the plate right in front of him, called the Rockies runner safe at home after Leo Bernal's tag clearly beat him. It was a horrible call, one that was inexcusable to miss, and it was hard not to feel personal after how he treated Rincon, Marmol, and the Cardinals in general earlier in that game.

Well, now Rincon gets to head to Milwaukee, where hopefully he gets to have a clean outing this time around.

Hancel Rincon is still an interesting arm for future Cardinals bullpen

There's no need to sugarcoat it: Rincon did not do himself any favors in his first two big-league appearances on the mound, but man, it is hard to believe it wouldn't have gone at least a little bit better if Eddings had not made a fool of himself. Rincon allowed seven earned runs on five hits, one walk, and one hit by pitch in his outings. While Rincon wasn't a top prospect by any means, he sure showed more potential than that with the Memphis Redbirds.

At Triple-A this season, Rincon has posted a 3.82 ERA in 77.2 innings pitched, striking out a ton of batters as he settled into a bullpen role after starting his whole minor league career. Since going back down to Memphis, Rincon has been excellent, pitching to the tune of a 1.42 ERA in 6.1 innings while striking out 13 batters and allowing just five baserunners.

The Cardinals optioned Cooper Hjerpe down to Memphis after Thursday's game to make room for a fresh arm, and Rincon got the nod from St. Louis. Entering the offseason, it will be interesting to see how strongly the Cardinals feel about protecting his spot on the 40-man roster, as he's someone who could be at risk if they make a lot of moves this winter.

For now, Rincon will hopefully get to make one or two more appearances out of the Cardinals bullpen before the end of the season to try to redeem his experience and get some positive momentum heading into the offseason.

Rincon should feel welcomed back into the Cardinals clubhouse. The team made a statement in the game following his encounter with Eddings, with all of them tilting their hats in support of Rincon.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow