If there’s someone who’s got Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk’s back, it’s teammate Alek Manoah.
On Wednesday, Manoah came to the defence of Kirk after the latter was criticized by Matthew Ross, a Montreal-based radio personality who called Kirk’s base-running “embarassing” for baseball.
The uproar started after the Blue Jays shared a tweet with a video of Kirk running the bases during Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Ross apparently wasn’t a fan of the video.
“It’s cute and all, but also embarrassing for the sport,” Ross said in a now-deleted tweet. “Giving guys like this prominence feeds negative stereotypes.”
While many Jays fans chirped the radio host for body-shaming statement, Manoah stepped up to the plate to stand up for his teammate.
“Go ahead and tell that 8-year-old kid who is 10lbs over weight that he should quit now,” Manoah tweeted. “Just step aside from the keyboard and let KIRK inspire those kids to continue to chase their dreams and chase greatness.”
In another deleted tweet, Ross replied to Manoah: “When a pro baseball player takes your words & twists them to suit his simple, defaming narrative of you.
“Fat shaming? That’s insane. I questioned the optics of a PRO player, & how it feeds into the declining view that casual fans have about MLB. PERIOD.”
Manoah didn’t like Ross’ response.
“So now your saying attendance is down because too many big guys play the sport? Then let me ask you, why did he get millions of votes to start the all star game? And What’s Narrow is your nose you should probably fix that. Your ratings are down cause of it,” tweeted Manoah.
Apparently the negative feedback got to Ross. At first he tried to protect himself from the backlash by locking his Twitter account, but he later ended up deleting it altogether.
Ross hosts Weekend Game Plan on Montreal’s TSN Radio 690.
According to his now-deleted Twitter bio, Ross is also the founder of non-profit organization ExposNation.
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