Red Sox Triple-A catcher nails Luke Maile in stomach with throw

Well this is absolutely despicable, and I've never seen anything like it.

Red Sox Triple-A catcher Humberto Quintero apparently attempted to throw out Mikie Mahtook while stealing third base in last night's game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rays affiliate Durham Bulls.

With Luke Maile in the batter's box, the pitch is received and Quintero nails him in the stomach on the throw.

It's not as if Maile made an attempt to block the throw, nor is he forward in the box. His back foot is inches from the back line, and there really is no excuse for the terrible play. In fact, fellow catcher Maile stands tall as if to not obstruct the throw.

How does something like this happen?

You can watch the broadcast of the incident behind this link, shared on the PawSox facebook page. To add insult to injury, the video description refers to the batter as "Adam Maile," who does not exist. Fox Sports made the same mistake.

The 35-year old Quintero is a veteran, formerly of five major league teams. After an injury to Ryan Hanigan in last night's game, they elected to call up someone else with no major league experience, a 23-year old catcher with 46 games of experience at Triple-A.

From what I'm told, Quintero kept on trying to sell the interference call and whimpering about something related to his throwing hand.

Later, in the 8th inning, Quintero made a take out slide into Rays prospect Hak-Ju Lee, whose career development has already taken a serious hit on a slide that destroyed his knee two years ago, upending his career from top-prospect to mere organizational depth.

The benches were cleared, and warnings were finally issued.

What a sad man. I'm sure his team mates and organization are proud of him.

(h/t to Chris Wise)