Former KU baseball player AJ Van Slyke arrived home in St. Louis to begin his first offseason as a professional baseball player about a month earlier than planned. And he didn’t have a good reason.

The former left fielder for the Jayhawks and 23rd-round selection of the St. Louis Cardinals ended his rookie season early when he tore his labrum, a ring of fibrous tissue in the shoulder, in a bench-clearing brawl last month.

The incident occurred on Sunday, July 24, while Van Slyke was playing for the New Jersey Cardinals. In the first inning, he belted a two-run homer against the Vermont Expos. When Van Slyke came to the plate in the third inning, Expos pitcher Carlos Martinez threw the first pitch high and tight to Van Slyke, just missing his face. When the second pitch just missed the back of Van Slyke’s head, he said he became irritated.

“I knew he was trying to hit me,” Van Slyke said. “I asked the umpire to do something about it, but he did nothing. Our coach came out and asked him to issue a warning, but he didn’t. The umpire did absolutely nothing about it.”

After trying to hit him with the first two pitches, Van Slyke figured he was done. He expected Martinez to groove a fastball with his third pitch.

“I was leading off the inning, and the count was 2-0, so I was pretty sure he was going to throw a strike,” Van Slyke said. “I didn’t think he wanted to walk me, so I was expecting one out over the plate.”

Martinez, however, drilled his third pitch into the right bicep of Van Slyke, which, he said, caused him to snap. Van Slyke threw his bat down and charged the mound, inciting a bench-clearing brawl between the two teams.

As Van Slyke charged Martinez, Expos catcher John Poppert took off his mask and threw it at Van Slyke, hitting him in the back. That didn’t stop Van Slyke, though, and he soon started pounding Martinez on the mound. When Poppert reached the mound and jumped on Van Slyke’s back, the three fell to the ground, dislocating Van Slyke’s shoulder.

“It was dislocated, but I didn’t know it,” Van Slyke said. “My adrenaline was pumping, and I knew it hurt, but I had no idea it was hurt that bad.”

Unaware of his injury, and at the bottom of a huge pile, Van Slyke continued to punch. He was stepped on and kicked by many members of the Expos bullpen, who were first to arrive at the mound.

Van Slyke was pulled from the pile by an Expos coach. As he walked back to the dugout, he realized what had happened to his shoulder.

Van Slyke’s father, Andy Van Slyke, who was elected to three all-star games and won five gold gloves during his 13-year professional career, said he was disappointed by his son’s decision to charge the mound.

“I was disappointed because I don’t think that was the right thing to do,” the elder Van Slyke said. “It was partly the umpire’s fault because it was evident the guy was throwing at him.”

Andy Van Slyke, who was known for his competitiveness and hard-nosed play during his professional career, had an idea of what his son should have done instead of charging the mound and ultimately injuring his shoulder.

“AJ should have just gone to first, stole second, stole third, scored and then flipped the guy off at home plate,” Andy Van Slyke said. “You play the game to beat the other guy, not to beat him up.”

A team trainer popped the shoulder back into place in the locker room during the conclusion of the game, which New Jersey won 13-6.

Four players were ejected from the game, including Van Slyke, Martinez and Poppert. Martinez was suspended for nine games and Van Slyke was suspended a minimum of three games, an amount to be announced by the league’s president. He also was fined an undisclosed amount.

The next day, Van Slyke returned to St. Louis to have his shoulder examined by the head doctor for New Jersey’s parent club, the St. Louis Cardinals. Dr. George Paletta found a 60 percent tear of his labrum and performed surgery to repair the injury.

With his arm in a sling, Van Slyke will miss the rest of the season.

“They said I will be in a sling for about four more weeks, at which time my shoulder will be structurally fine,” Van Slyke said. “I will then start rehab, and should be fully recovered in about two and a half months, well before the start of spring training.”

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Van Slyke, who was riding a hot streak at the plate. He hit .380 with two homers and 14 RBI in 13 games for Rookie League affiliate Johnson City, before being promoted to New Jersey. His hot hitting continued there, where he was hitting .343 with 12 hits and two homers in just nine games before the injury.

Van Slyke should begin next season at New Jersey, but his hot hitting could have earned him another promotion.

“They saw what I can do,” Van Slyke said. “They know I can hit. The injury set me back a little bit, but I will have to just go to spring training and play the best I can play and just see what happens.”

Though Van Slyke’s team for next season is still uncertain, one thing is for sure. The next time he’s hit by a pitch, he’ll think twice before charging the mound.

– Edited by Theresa Montano