Spring Ejection 3 - Randy Rosenberg (1; JT Realmuto)

[Lindsay]

HP Umpire Randy Rosenberg ejected Phillies catcher JT Realmuto (pitch clock violation/resumption of play) in the bottom of the 4th inning of the #Phillies-#BlueJays game. With one out and one on, Phillies pitcher Craig Kimbrel was called for a pitch clock violation after he failed to begin his pitching motion prior to the expiration of time, resulting in an award of an automatic ball to Blue Jays batter Danny Jansen's count. After the violation, Kimbrel requested and received a replacement baseball from HP Umpire Rosenberg, who threw the replacement ball to the pitcher directly. Catcher Realmuto, having initially reached back with his catcher's mitt to receive a replacement ball, retracted his arm and mitt after realizing that Kimbrel had already received a replacement ball from the umpire. HP Umpire Rosenberg, however, had begun giving a new baseball to Realmuto and was mid-throw when Realmuto pulled his mitt away, the errant gesture resulting in the ball falling to the ground. Realmuto was then ejected. Replays indicate the pitch clock displayed zero prior to Kimbrel's delivery, the violation call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Phillies were leading, 4-0.

This is Randy Rosenberg (113)'s 1st ejection of Spring Training 2023.

This is the third ejection of MLB Spring Training 2023.

This is the third player ejection of Spring 2023. Prior to ejection, Realmuto was 1-2 (SO) in the contest.

This is Philadelphia's 1st ejection of Spring, T-1st in the Grapefruit League (PHI, WAS 1; All Others 0).

This is JT Realmuto's 1st career MLB ejection.

This is Randy Rosenberg's 1st ejection since July 5, 2022 (AJ Pollock; QOC = N [Balls/Strikes]).

Wrap: Philadelphia Phillies vs Toronto Blue Jays (Spring Training), 3/27/23 | Video as follows:

Alternate Link: Umpire ejects catcher for pulling mitt away after pitch clock violation (TOR)

View the full article

[The Man in Blue]

Wow.

This is going to sound like a little thing, but the little things are the big things.

Routine, routine, routine.  If you are handing the ball to the catcher time after time, do NOT randomly throw a ball to the pitcher this time.  If you hand the catcher the ball in his mitt time after time, do NOT try to slip one into his hand.  I don't care what he asks for.  Do NOT change your routine.

 

*Tangent ... just don't throw the ball, ever.  That's the catcher's job.

[Jimurray]

4 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

Wow.

This is going to sound like a little thing, but the little things are the big things.

Routine, routine, routine.  If you are handing the ball to the catcher time after time, do NOT randomly throw a ball to the pitcher this time.  If you hand the catcher the ball in his mitt time after time, do NOT try to slip one into his hand.  I don't care what he asks for.  Do NOT change your routine.

 

*Tangent ... just don't throw the ball, ever.  That's the catcher's job.

I need to show my arm off. No, never mind. There is an occasional need at our levels for the PU to throw back when the catcher is in lala land looking at the foul ball land somewhere. Then I get to show why they need to allow warmup throws for umpires pregame. But I wonder if that ump will show up on an MLB field this year.

[SeeingEyeDog]

I always prefer to hand off F2. The only time I don't is when F2 has worn one and I will walk out to F1 and hand off to him to let F2 reset himself.

I've watched this clip a couple of times looking for some nuance. And then it occurred to me...there may have possibly have been something that Realmuto said to Rosenberg that neither we, the broadcasters or Lindsay at CCS could hear which would lead to this ejection.

~Dawg

[The Man in Blue]

1 hour ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

I always prefer to hand off F2. The only time I don't is when F2 has worn one and I will walk out to F1 and hand off to him to let F2 reset himself.

I've watched this clip a couple of times looking for some nuance. And then it occurred to me...there may have possibly have been something that Realmuto said to Rosenberg that neither we, the broadcasters or Lindsay at CCS could hear which would lead to this ejection.

~Dawg

 

Could be, but his reaction doesn't seem like it.  Not in my opinion, anyway.

[wolfe_man]

On the surface, this just looks like an angry umpire upset that F2 moved his glove late and caused him to bounce one in the dirt.   It looks like he thinks F2 was showing him up and making him look bad (on the throw).  Perhaps something was said, perhaps it's about the pitch clock violation, perhaps...   It's not a good look, no matter what the details are.   The optics of this one are almost as bad as the umpire calling the FU 3K on that batter a few weeks ago to make his point.  This can't happen in today's game, especially at that level.

[SeeingEyeDog]

Philadelphia Inquirer's report on the incident: https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/realmuto-ejection-phillies-umpire-spring-training-20230327.html

Realmuto has no ejections in nearly 2,000 pro games and says he didn't say anything before or during the incident. Then again, what person in this situation who did say something that was clearly ejectionable is going to admit to that? I'm not saying it did or didn't happen...I just think there is more going on here than shown in the video or reported by the newspaper.

~Dawg

[wolfe_man]

1 hour ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

Philadelphia Inquirer's report on the incident: https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/realmuto-ejection-phillies-umpire-spring-training-20230327.html

Realmuto has no ejections in nearly 2,000 pro games and says he didn't say anything before or during the incident. Then again, what person in this situation who did say something that was clearly ejectionable is going to admit to that? I'm not saying it did or didn't happen...I just think there is more going on here than shown in the video or reported by the newspaper.

~Dawg

You may be right, but I truly feel this is one he would like to have back. It smacks of over-reaction from a young umpire trying to get to the next level.  An old, confident veteran might laugh that one off with JT, but he (no doubt desiring to show his poise and confidence in all situations) decided to show that no one is going to make him look foolish. 

We'll probably never know the full spin on what happened, but if words were spoken then I'd watch for a video from JomBoy.  He's a good lip-reader and can tell you if anyone said anything or not.

[wolfe_man]

And here's JomBoy's take on it.  He's got nothing from JT to instigate anything. It really looks like the umpire misread JT's glove drop.

 

 

[834k3r]

16 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

I always prefer to hand off F2. The only time I don't is when F2 has worn one and I will walk out to F1 and hand off to him to let F2 reset himself.

100% this.

[NateWalter]

On 3/27/2023 at 6:52 PM, The Man in Blue said:

*Tangent ... just don't throw the ball, ever.  That's the catcher's job.

When I first started umpiring, a wise, experienced umpire told me to avoid doing things that would make people question my ability. Making a noodle-armed throw is one of those things. Even if you have a very good throwing arm, it takes one bad throw for fans, players and coaches to look at you and go, "where did they find this guy?"

Let the catcher be the one to make the bad throws.