Ken Rosenthal bluntly calls out Doug Eddings for ‘unnecessary distraction’

On Saturday, home plate umpire Doug Eddings became public enemy number one for the St. Louis Cardinals after he admonished rookie reliever Hancel Rincon for wearing his cap in an allegedly inappropriate manner in the sixth inning of their contest against the Colorado Rockies, and during Rincon’s second game in the big leagues, no less.

This promptly drew the ire and confusion of manager Oli Marmol, who defended Rincon from Eddings, believing as though the home plate umpire was way out of line to call out the rookie for this matter. This issue ended up bringing the Cardinals and Rockies together, as the two teams, on Sunday for the finale of a three-game series, wore their caps similarly to how Rincon did on Saturday.

Eddings, for his part, already apologized to the Cardinals reliever for what he did. But the damage has already been done, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal put the umpire on blast for using his authority in a way that reeked of power tripping.

“At a time of the year, when we should be focusing on the pennant races, the award races, the cool stuff going on in baseball… we had this, let’s call it a distraction. An unnecessary distraction, an unnecessary scolding of a young player, a guy making his Major League debut, it simply was not right,” Rosenthal said in an appearance on Foul Territory.

“Major League Baseball, in my view, was right to address this in some fashion with Eddings. … It was something the sport certainly did not need.”

Doug Eddings' "unnecessary scolding" of Hansel Rincon just wasn't right, says @Ken_Rosenthal.

"This is something the sport certainly didn't need." pic.twitter.com/dsL9LlWIRF

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 7, 2026

Rincon ended up allowing four runs in his lone inning of work in the big leagues. Only 24 years of age, he’s been a member of the Cardinals organization since 2019, when he was signed as an amateur free agent.

He did not make an appearance on the mound on Sunday in a 10-8 win for the Cardinals over the Rockies. St. Louis sent him back down to the minor leagues following the conclusion of this three-game weekend set.

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