In a moment that left fans stunned—and Willson Contreras himself slightly horrified—the Cardinals catcher-turned-first-baseman found himself chewing on bat tape during Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins. And it wasn’t on purpose.
The strange scene unfolded in the bottom of the third inning when Contreras stepped into the batter’s box for a full-count pitch. With the pitch clock winding down and no timeouts remaining, he noticed that the grip tape near the knob of his bat was starting to unravel. In a quick but bizarre decision, Contreras used his teeth to tear off the loose tape—then, with only seconds to spare before needing to be alert in the box, stuffed it into his mouth rather than risk a pitch clock violation.
Forget chewing gum. Chewing batting tape is the way to go
: FS1 pic.twitter.com/smL5WJViAB
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 29, 2025
“That was a bad taste, really bad,” Contreras admitted after the game with a laugh. “I don’t try to put [pine tar or sticky spray] on my [bat], but it was disgusting. It was a bad taste.”
Contreras ultimately struck out swinging on the next pitch, but said he’d rather go down that way than be rung up automatically due to the clock. The new pitch timer rules allow only one timeout per at-bat, and batters must be set and alert to the pitcher by the 8-second mark. At the time, the clock showed 11 seconds.
Cardinals sweep the Twins in the opening series of 2025
“With this clock, you have to do things that are out of your control, and I had to do that instead of striking out,” Contreras explained. “Well, I struck out anyways, but I’d rather strike out swinging rather than by the clock.”
The moment quickly went viral, with Cardinals fans and broadcasters alike trying to figure out why Contreras was chomping down on his bat grip. It turned out to be a split-second decision in the name of avoiding a violation—but it didn’t come without some regret.
“I don’t think [chewing the tape] was a bad thing to do, but I was just running out of time. I had no time,” he said. “I didn’t even know that it was on TV, and I had totally forgotten about it. I was literally watching the clock… 11, 10 seconds and I was like, ‘Bro, get ready to hit!’ That’s what happened.”
Contreras, who had an excellent spring training at the plate, has struggled out of the gate in the regular season, going 0-for-9 with five strikeouts across the first two games. Still, his sense of humor remained intact.
“Oh man, if I hit a homer on that, I’m doing it every time,” he joked. Hopefully for Contreras, better at-bats—and better taste—are ahead. But as far as viral moments go, this one may linger just a little longer.
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