SF Giants: Brewers scoreboard operator jokes about Joc Pederson's Fantasy Football expertise

The SF Giants were in Milwaukee for a doubleheader on Thursday against the Brewers. During the game, Milwaukee's scoreboard operator earned a highlight on the NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast for their "Player Trivia" about Giants outfielder Joc Pederson.

When Pederson came to the plate, the Brewers scoreboard said Pederson was "Very familiar with the bench/IR rules in fantasy football." Of course, Pederson was in the middle of some fantasy football drama earlier this season when Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham found Pederson prior to a game and slapped him across the face.

Pham received a three-game suspension for slapping Pederson, but was not remorseful after the incident, telling USA Today's Bob Nightengale that "Joc deserved to be slapped," adding, "There were about 100 people that thanked me after slapping him."

Today’s Joc Pederson player trivia 😅 pic.twitter.com/g8plif1yAX
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 8, 2022

Pederson explained that their disagreement stemmed from a fantasy football league they both had played in where Pederson added several productive players to his roster by moving injured players to the injured reserve (a.k.a. IR). Pham expressed displeasure in the league's group chat with Pederson's decision, but Joc was adamant that everything he did was within the rules (it was). The fantasy league has reformed this season without Pham.

Besides this strange storyline, Pederson has had an excellent first season with the Giants. He was selected to the second All-Star game of his career this summer and is hitting .267/.346/.519 with 21 home runs in 112 games. Over his nine-year MLB career, Pederson has 169 career home runs and a .236/.333/.468 triple-slash.

Pham, on the other hand, has been less productive this season, struggling with the Reds before he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later or cash at the trade deadline. Pham has a .248/.321/.394 line this season, with 16 home runs in 123 games. Pham emerged as one of the best outfielders in MLB back in 2017 with the Cardinals, but injuries have hampered his production over the past few seasons.

Credit the Brewers stadium staff for taking advantage of one of the stranger stories of the season to add an entertaining joke to their scoreboard on Thursday when SF Giants outfielder Joc Pederson came to the plate.

Published Sep 9, 2022

MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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