TORONTO – Brad Wilkerson doesn’t know for certain that he was the target of Blue Jays manager John Schneider’s, “Shut up, fat boy” snipe across the field on Tuesday night.
But the Yankees’ assistant hitting coach has seen the speculation that the comment, which has since gone viral, was directed at him.
“I’d like to hear it from his end, but stuff happens,” Wilkerson said at Rogers Centre on Wednesday. “We try to stay in our dugout. Some things happened over at third base and we were trying to defend our guys. I didn’t know anything about it until after the game when I saw the write-ups and [it was] shown all over TV.
“I guess it was pointed at me.”
Asked on Wednesday whether he was yelling at anybody in particular in the Yankees dugout, Schneider claimed he was not.
“Heat of the moment,” Schneider said.
Wilkerson, the former MLB outfielder, was not surprised that Schneider would not reveal the target. But the episode has turned into some good-natured ribbing within the Yankees’ clubhouse.
“There were a few snickers,” Wilkerson said. “I made them know that there were a couple guys in that New York Post picture too. It wasn’t just me. So I let them know about it too.”
The Post’s online article, wondering about the identity of Schneider’s “fat boy” comment, also included manager Aaron Boone, the 6-foot-7, 282-pound Aaron Judge and the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Anthony Rizzo, among others.
“I think when you see stuff flash across The New York Post and things like that that are funny, you kind of bring it up,” Wilkerson said with a chuckle. “You kind of laugh at it. We’re trying to focus on what we’re doing in our dugout and our clubhouse. It brought a little laughter.”
The heated moment in Tuesday’s night game came in the third inning when Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker barked at Yankees third-base coach Luis Rojas for being out of the coaching box. That was a carryover from Monday’s game, when the Blue Jays suspected Aaron Judge was picking up signs from first-base coach Travis Chapman — with reliever Jay Jackson later admitting he was tipping pitches — before crushing his second home run of the night.
Boone said he did not hear Schneider’s comment in the moment. He did seem to have an issue, though, with the Blue Jays getting on Rojas.
“I don’t like that, of course, especially with the admiration and respect I have for Luis,” Boone said. “At the same time, we’re trying to focus on us and our dugout and our team and our guys and the game at hand. We’re trying to do our part in not getting caught up in that stuff.”
Both Boone and Schneider said that Jackson’s admittance on Tuesday night did not change how they viewed the incident.
“It was cleared up long before that,” Boone said. “There was nothing. No wrongdoing going on.”