Atlanta Braves Joe Simpson earns scathing rebuttal regarding Juan Soto

Atlanta Braves announcer Joe Simpson once again put his foot in his mouth, this time when he questioned the age of Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto. The Dominican Prospect League is having none of his attempt at an apology.

On Tuesday night, Atlanta Braves broadcaster Joe Simpson once again flew off into the muddy skies of stupidity while behind the microphone. In watching Washington Nationals phenom Juan Soto continue to annihilate baseballs with impunity, Simpson decided that, instead of appreciating the history unfolding before his eyes, he would question Soto’s age. Naturally, this earned a confrontation from Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, and a half-hearted apology prior to the second game of the doubleheader.

Naturally, this caught the attention of people from the Dominican Republic, Soto’s home country. As a result, the Dominican Prospect League issued a scathing retort to Simpson, demanding action against the Braves announcer.

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Is this reaction a bit over the top? Definitely. Going after Simpson’s family was uncalled for, and questioning their accomplishments really does not make their remarks much better than Simpson’s. While the desire to react to Simpson in the strongest way possible is understandable, going after his family is over the line. There is no need to stoop to the same level.

As for Simpson, age scandals have not been a problem in baseball for over a decade. Yes, there were recent attempts, such as in 2010 when six Venezuelan prospects were declared ineligible to sign for a year after falsifying their age, but the sport has cracked down on such transgressions. The Roberto Hernandez/Fausto Carmona’s or the Juan Carlos Oviedo/Leo Nunez’ or the Danny Almonte’s of the world are not nearly as prevalent.

Quite simply, it appears that the game has passed Simpson by. After all, this is the same person that complained about the Dodgers batting practice shirts, calling out Chase Utley in particular. One can just imagine how he will react as he sees the Player’s Weekend jerseys, especially if he gets wind of what is on the back of Brad Boxberger‘s jersey. Of course, there are questions as to whether or not the curmudgeon will even understand what emojis are.

Eventually, there comes a point where it is time to walk away. With his words over the past few weeks, Joe Simpson has proven that his time has come. While he may provide a Braves-centric viewpoint and be a decent enough broadcaster, he simply cannot be making such idle speculation. The DPL was correct in firing back at the Atlanta Braves announcer.