Former Yankee Luke Voit catching heat for collision at home plate is kind of soft

Let’s check in on former New York Yankees players on other teams to start 2022 again, shall we?! That means another update on now-San Diego Padres slugger Luke Voit, who was traded to the west coast this offseason.

Voit’s start with his new team hasn’t exactly been promising, but Yankees fans are still rooting for him to succeed after all he did for New York since 2018. Through 12 games, he’s hitting just .154 with a .513 OPS and has struck out 16 times.

To make matters worse, he was the center of a controversy on Tuesday night. Voit reached base on a walk in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds and shortly after made a run for it when Jurickson Profar ripped a double down the left field line.

Voit trucked it around the bases in an attempt to score from first base, but he was thrown out at the plate after a bang-bang relay from Aristedes Aquino to Kyle Farmer to Tyler Stephenson.

The “issue” at hand? Voit’s slide into home plate, which many are calling “dirty,” even though there wasn’t much more maneuvering he could do. It prompted a ton of outrage from the Reds during and after the game, but one could argue it’s all an overreaction.

Voit simply slid into home as Stephenson corralled the relay and reached across his body to tag Voit. It just so happened Stephenson’s head ended up getting crushed by Voit’s torso, which forced the catcher to leave the game.

Fans calling former Yankees 1B Luke Voit’s slide “dirty” have no idea how to play baseball

First off, for those demanding Voit should’ve slid head-first into home plate, it’s clear you’ve never played baseball in your life … because that’s heavily advised against due to the higher risk of injury. Additionally, Voit clearly did not initiate any contact nor did he stray outside of the base path. He ran straight for home plate and slid just as Stephenson hauled in the throw from Farmer.

Once again, it was Stephenson, who reached across his body to tag Voit, who technically initiated the contact. But that didn’t stop Reds outfielder Tommy Pham from calling out Voit and trying to fight him after the game.

What’re we doing here? Do the Reds players seriously think Voit’s arms coming down as he slid was an act of intentional violence? He took a shot to the midsection on the tag and had to slide awkwardly because Stephenson ended up blocking the plate, which is technically illegal!

And here’s Kyle Farmer getting in on the action calling out Voit?! Former Dodger calling out a Padre, not shocking.

On top of that, fans are calling out Voit for a different slide from last week when he hit Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford in the wrist.

Again, it was a situation where Voit was sliding directly into the bag while the fielder was making an awkward cross-body motion on a bad throw in an attempt to make the out.

Not sure what else you’re supposed to do there. Voit has no idea where the ball is and on BOTH of these occasions the defender wasn’t in the base path when he started his slide.

Just your classic 2022 overreaction because we’ve got nothing better to do. OK, back to enjoying baseball … as we wait for the celebrity boxing match between Pham and Voit.

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