CHICAGO (AP) — Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier has played through the scenario in his head. There is a big cheer from the crowd, and he sees a fan running toward him.
“Every time I hear the fans go crazy out of nowhere I always turn around,” Kiermaier said. “One of these days I feel like someone is just going to come running at me.”
That’s what happened to Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. on Monday night in Colorado, sending the outfielder to the grass in Colorado. And the episode with one of the favorites for NL MVP occurred just a few days after a shooting police said likely happened inside Guaranteed Rate Field.
While Major League Baseball is on track for a marked attendance increase this year, the pair of high-profile incidents raised questions about safety of players and fans inside and outside big league ballparks.
“It’s always kind of scary when you have situations like we had in Chicago, especially watching the video and I’m sitting there in left field playing a baseball game and all those activities are going on,” Oakland’s Tony Kemp said. “That’s a little bit scary. That bullet could’ve hit me, and you know, I have a family and I have people that care for me and I care for them.”
The Major League Baseball Players Association said the union takes player safety “very seriously” and that it reviews club and stadium protocols throughout every season “to mitigate the possibility of similar future incidents.”
Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ, a member of the union’s eight-player executive subcommittee, called the situation with Acuña “a scary moment.” But he cautioned against connecting what happened with Acuña to the shooting at the ballpark.
“I think they’re very different,” he said. “I think each probably has to be evaluated on its own.”
Acuña was approached by two fans during the middle of the seventh inning in Atlanta’s 14-4 win over Colorado.
One fan got his arms around Acuña in right field before security personnel quickly grabbed the man. A second fan then sprinted toward the group, knocking down Acuña, and that fan was tackled as a member of the security staff chased him down.
“I was a little scared at first,” Acuña said through an interpreter. “I think the fans were out there and asking for pictures. I really couldn’t say anything because at that point, security was already there and we were already kind of tangled up, but security was able to get there and everything’s OK.”
The two fans are facing charges of trespassing and disturbing the peace, according to the Denver Police Department.
“Thankfully, they weren’t trying to hurt Acuña in that situation,” Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe said. “Then again, if this happens again, you can’t be certain that a person is going to have some ill will towards that guy. It’s definitely concerning and hopefully there are steps taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Fans running on the field is nothing new for baseball. Players are instructed during spring training to do whatever they can to get out of the way whenever it happens.
“They tell you there could be an urge to tackle them or something like that,” Phillies outfielder Jake Cave said. “They’re like please do not do that. You never know what somebody has on them. Something sharp. You could get hurt.”
Field intruders generally are turned over to police before being ejected from the ballpark. Clubs may separately penalize field intruders by banning them from their ballparks.
