Adam Eaton Is Surprised People Think He’s Selfish

Sep 22, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Adam Eaton (left), center fielder A.J. Pollock (center) and right fielder Gerardo Parra (left) celebrate after the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Diamondbacks won 13-9. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Is Adam Eaton a selfish ballplayer? At least one unnamed former Eaton teammate thinks so.

This anonymous Diamondbacks player slammed Eaton after the outfielder was traded to the White Sox as part of the three-team deal that landed Arizona Mark Trumbo, calling Eaton a “selfish me-me type player” who “irked people in the clubhouse.”

This is all news to Adam Eaton.

“I haven’t heard anything about any of it,” Eaton said when contacted to comment on the story. “I didn’t have any indication. I felt like I left on pretty good terms. I felt like I had a pretty good relationship with most of the guys and the PR department and a lot of the front office people. After the trade they called me and kind of wished me good luck.”

Eaton does admit that he plays with a little bit of an attitude, but he chalks this up to being smaller and less physically gifted than other players.

“The way I do hold myself, I need to be a little bit cockier,” Eaton said. “I need to have that presence because everybody tells me something I can’t do. So I kind of have to have that presence about you, I feel. I think that’s what makes me have a little bit of an edge because I am a little bit like that.”

That kind of stuff tends to tick off the other teams and their fans more than one’s own teammates. In this case however, at least one of Eaton’s mates didn’t appreciate his cockiness.

Eaton says he is sorry if he rubbed anyone the wrong way.

“If I did anything to offend anybody, I sincerely apologize,” Eaton said. “I don’t want that to be the lasting impression that I leave. I want the impression to be that I played hard and the team went a different direction and that’s the reason for it. I don’t like that that has been spread. I want to try and squash that. I don’t like that idea of me out there.”

Like Call to the Pen on Facebook.
Follow Call to the Pen on Twitter.
Subsribe to the Fansided Daily Newsletter. Sports news all up in your inbox.