Think back to the year 2018 as a fan of the Washington Nationals. While the season itself was a frustrating one that ultimately ended with the team failing to make the playoffs in what would end up being the final season of the Bryce Harper era in the Nation's Capital, fans felt at least pretty confident in the outfield situation moving forward.
That was mostly in large part due to a pair of young international prospects who had become the top 2 overall in the organization with Victor Robles, who was a consensus Top 10 prospect in all of baseball, and some kid named Juan Soto, who ended up being pretty good. Both of them would become starters for the World Series Championship team in 2019, but their careers have gone pretty differently since then.
While Soto was setting all kinds of records en route to signing the largest contract in the history of baseball while playing for the Nationals, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, and now the New York Mets, the path for Robles was a bit different. After flaming out in 2024 with the Nationals, he found his way over to the Seattle Mariners, where he finally experienced a bit of a career renaissance that made Nationals fans happy that he had finally begun to realize his potential.
After finishing the 2024 season on a high note and earning a multi-year extension from Seattle, Robles has had a tough 2025 season. He broke his arm on a freak play while playing right field earlier this season, and has only been healthy for 10 games for the Mariners this year. It has been frustrating for Robles, and unfortunately for him the tension he has experienced all season long finally boiled over.
While on his rehab assignment with the Tacoma Rainiers, the AAA affiliate of the Mariners, Robles was hit by a pitch for the 5th time in just 18 plate appearances, and he lost control of the moment. After being hit for that last time, Robles was irate, throwing his bat at pitcher Joey Estes, who has hit him in the big leagues previously as well. After throwing the bat, Robles began walking towards the mound, before things escalated even further with him attempting to charge Estes.
Victor Robles threw his bat at the pitcher pic.twitter.com/5E4mCnOffF
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 18, 2025
It was a rare display of negative emotion from Robles, who was known as being a pretty fun personality that has been easy to root for during his time as a big leaguer. In his statement after the game, Robles shed a bit more light on what he has been dealing with, and it's tough not to feel bad for everything he has had going on.
Robles revealed that his frustration boiled over due to being hit multiple times in just a short time period, while mentally dealing with the fact that he has missed almost the entire season and has worked tirelessly to come back from his injury. Most importantly, he mentioned the recent passing of his mother, and how difficult things have been for him to hold everything together.
He was quick to take accountability for his actions and to apologize to everyone involved, and after hearing his rationale, it's really hard for me to even try to relate to what he's going through, as that is a ton of different emotions to have to deal with. While Robles will surely face some sort of suspension for his actions, I hope he is able to contribute to the Mariners at some point this season, and atone for this mistake by having a legendary postseason moment.
What did you think of Victor Robles' viral moment? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.