Astros reliever clashes with heckler over Roberto Osuna domestic violence allegations
The Houston Astros have seemingly moved on from Roberto Osuna’s domestic violence allegations after trading for the closer at the trade deadline this season, but that doesn’t mean baseball fans have.
A few hundred feet away from where the Astros eliminated the Cleveland Indians on Monday in Game 3 of the ALDS, a Progressive Field heckler was going at it with the Houston bullpen over Osuna’s recent past. Video of the exchange was published by TMZ.
Astros reliever confronts heckler over Roberto Osuna
Per TMZ, among the many things the heckler yelled at Osuna was “Do you remember baseball before you committed domestic violence?”
That seemed to be a sore spot for an Astros organization that was blasted for trading for Osuna while the reliever was still in court over domestic assault charges, which were eventually dropped after Osuna agreed to a peace bond. Osuna opted to not respond to the heckler, but teammate Ryan Pressly decided the closer needed defending.
From TMZ:
“Stop, stop, stop … I don’t care what you say. You can talk all the sh*t you want. Just don’t bring that stuff up,” Pressly said.
The heckler argued that Osuna should be able to handle the trash talk because he’s a pro — but Pressly fired back.
“He’s trying to be a professional … but you’re coming over here being a dickhead, dude.”
Finally, Pressly gives up and walks away … telling the heckler, “You’re f*cking soft.”
Following that exchange, the Astros presumably moved on and went about their day, completing their sweep of Cleveland with a blowout 11-3 win. Neither Pressly nor Osuna pitched.
The latest argument over Roberto Osuna’s domestic assault charges
People yelling about Roberto Osuna has not been a rare occurrence this year, but this might be the first time we’ve seen someone from the Astros literally yelling about it.
The “stuff” Pressly doesn’t want brought up is Osuna being arrested in May and charged by a Canadian court with domestic assault against his spouse. Those charges were dropped in September when Osuna’s accuser, who wants to continue to co-parent his 3-year-old with him, didn’t want to testify.
While details around the case are publicly sparse, MLB opted to immediately place Osuna on paid administrative leave and eventually give him a 75-game suspension. Osuna has claimed innocence throughout the ordeal.
Osuna was suspended for nearly half the season, but the Astros still decided to trade for him to bolster their bullpen. That was despite the organization supposedly holding a “zero-tolerance policy” for domestic abuse by players in the organization and some of its own players having publicly blasted an abuser in the organization.
But then again, Osuna had a 2.93 ERA at the time. One could make the argument that Pressly’s initial reaction reflected the debate as a whole: The Astros really didn’t care what anyone had to say about picking Osuna up.
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