Cole Carrigg, one of the National League’s top rookies in 2026, will miss at least the Colorado Rockies’ Sunday, Aug. 30 game against the Atlanta Braves after making an inappropriate gesture toward Braves fans during Saturday’s loss.
Rockies bench Cole Carrigg after gesture toward Braves fans
The 24-year-old infielder and outfielder made a diving attempt on a Michael Harris II fly ball in the seventh inning Saturday but narrowly missed a spectacular catch when the ball deflected off the top of his glove. Two runs scored on the play, giving Atlanta a 2-1 lead that held for the victory.
As Braves fans celebrated the pivotal play, Carrigg turned his back toward the center-field crowd and made an obscene gesture in their direction. The following morning, Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer announced that Carrigg would be benched for Sunday’s series finale and possibly the beginning of Colorado’s upcoming home series against Baltimore.
“Cole made a mistake – he knows that is an embarrassment to the organization and that we don’t stand for that,” Schaeffar said Sunday, per MLB.com. “Listen, everybody makes mistakes. It’s just one that he has to learn from. It’s just that we will not put up with that here.”
“So he is going to sit a couple days, because he’s a guy that wants to play every day. That’s the repercussions of this.”
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Carrigg apologizes for incident
Carrigg made his major league debut June 9 and has established a reputation as a hard-nosed player. Earlier this season, he was involved in a brief altercation with Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing after scoring a go-ahead run in the 10th inning.
“First, I apologize to my teammates and the organization – that’s not how I want to represent us,” Carrigg told reporters in Atlanta. “That’s inexcusable on my part.”
“With that being said, I’m somebody who’s going to play at 110% every game and give my all to this team and to the game to try to win ballgames. That was a play that I felt could or could not have won the game, so I’m very passionate about that.”
“Braves fans are pretty passionate themselves. Kudos to them. But that can’t happen.”
Carrigg can play both shortstop and center field. This season, he has recorded a .345 on-base percentage and a .789 OPS, including a 106 adjusted OPS, for Colorado. He has also hit six home runs and stolen eight bases in 11 attempts.
His rise to the majors came over three years after the Rockies selected him in the second round of the 2023 draft. Carrigg was a high school teammate of Athletics slugger Tyler Soderstrom and expected to reach the majors as he progressed through amateur and professional baseball.
“You get to college and do it. You get to the minors and do it,” he told USA TODAY Sports last week. “Each step prepares you and if you look at it with the right state of mind, you can tell yourself, ‘I’ve done it with these guys before, I’ve seen these guys in college. Why not me?’”
