Runner Shoved by First Baseman After Fielder Touches the Bag

[tcufrogboy]

This occurred in last night's TCU vs DBU game. The TCU batter hits a groundball to the second baseman. The second baseman throws it to the first baseman who is on the bag. Runner is out. The first baseman remains on the bag and checks the runner to the ground. What is the call? Video to the play below. 

https://x.com/txtraeger/status/1902487355086286928

[noumpere]

Depends on what had happened prior to this, etc, and the umpire's assessment of the action.  Could range from just a discussion, to an ejection, to later action taken by the conference.

[ArchAngel72]

That looks to me like a malicious elbow to the head attempt.  If it were defending oneself I would think it would be tucked in and not thrust our clearly at jaw level.

 

EJECT EJECT EJECT!

[BLWizzRanger]

This is one where both full speed and slo-mo needs to be seen.  I could see the BR flopping here with his secondary movement of his head accelerating to his left and moving toward the ground.

[Replacematt]

I was expecting something with a bit more meat when I read the thread before watching the video.

Absent anything else happening to this point, this is getting a stern "Really?" from me to F3. And if BR asks me to do more, I'm going to ask him about his theater major.

[MadMax]

15 hours ago, tcufrogboy said:

What is the call?

Out. 

Simple. 

15 hours ago, tcufrogboy said:

and checks the runner to the ground.

Uhhh, no. The X poster (“tweeter?” “expresser?”  ) went so far (so very, very far) as to say, “stared him down”. 🙄 I just don’t see that happening. I’ve seen better flops in poker and soccer. 

[834k3r]

3 hours ago, MadMax said:

I’ve seen better flops in poker and soccer. 

And hockey.

[BigBlue4u]

19 hours ago, tcufrogboy said:

The first baseman remains on the bag and checks the runner to the ground. What is the call? Video to the play below. 

Judging by the video only, I've got an ejection.  It appears the runner took a couple of steps, lost his balance, then fell down just out of camera range.  If the runner did not fall, I wouldn't eject, but I would definitely have somewhat of an animated, but short, conversation with 1B.  As to determining whether the runner flopped or not, 50-50.  But, if I did call it and eject 1B, I would be asking the coach why 1B extended his forearm as the runner arrived. Plus, it's a game control issue. This is a D-1 college game. If nothing was said or done by the umpire, what would we possibly be looking at the next time 1B bats?

[BLWizzRanger]

 

Play on.

[Replacematt]

9 hours ago, BigBlue4u said:

Judging by the video only, I've got an ejection.  It appears the runner took a couple of steps, lost his balance, then fell down just out of camera range.  If the runner did not fall, I wouldn't eject, but I would definitely have somewhat of an animated, but short, conversation with 1B.  As to determining whether the runner flopped or not, 50-50.  But, if I did call it and eject 1B, I would be asking the coach why 1B extended his forearm as the runner arrived. Plus, it's a game control issue. This is a D-1 college game. If nothing was said or done by the umpire, what would we possibly be looking at the next time 1B bats?

This was entirely a flop and the initial act is not even close to severe enough to do anything official unless there had been something else to this point, which is why we use our tools. And whether the runner falls or not is irrelevant.

This is not a totally uncommon occurrence in college ball, people don't usually get thrown at over this, and an ejection here will have your coordinator questioning why you ejected for something so minor. The lack of a warning might also raise the national coordinator's eyebrows (there is a dedicated field to affirm/deny that a warning was given.) Hopefully the mistake of ejection doesn't come with the additional consequences of subsequent ejections, because nothing is going to get you questioned more than having multiple ones in the same game, let alone same incident.

While we could eject here and have it supported by rule, it is not the tool that anyone wants us to use. Soft ejections without using all the tools are one of the big things that will keep an umpire from advancing or the postseason (and too many will get your schedule pulled.)

In the old days, without instant video at coordinators' disposal, a written report on this incident probably wouldn't raise any questions. Now that nearly every college ejection can be seen by those who give us our schedules, we have to add another area where our judgment has to be on point--game management. Our bosses can see an ejection incident and tell if we misjudged its severity.

[beerguy55]

18 hours ago, MadMax said:

Out. 

Simple. 

Uhhh, no. The X poster (“tweeter?” “expresser?”  ) went so far (so very, very far) as to say, “stared him down”. 🙄 I just don’t see that happening. I’ve seen better flops in poker and soccer. 

I hate "homers" - they check all common sense at the door and will magically see a whole new reality just to reconcile their fanhood.

This is a big fat nothing by F3 and B/R must be the lovechild of Lebron and Ronaldo.

Can we give an embellishment penalty in baseball??

[urout17]

On 3/20/2025 at 8:37 AM, BLWizzRanger said:

I could see the BR flopping here with his secondary movement of his head accelerating to his left

So you're saying his head went back and to the left, back and to the left.....

[Central Cal Umpire]

The video seems to be in slow motion at the end. That alters perception, I think. At regular speed, it was probably a matter of F3 simply being surprised to see R1 barreling towards him and he put up an arm to protect himself. The little shove was probably just to shielding himself from getting knocked over himself.

Assuming no priors in that same game and no ongoing issues with these teams or players over a season, I'd consider it incidental and leave it alone. I don't see anything that rises to the level of egregious. These guys are playing hard and running hard. Sometimes they bump into each other.

Maybe have a discussion with the managers between innings to suggest we do our best to keep things civil, but even that, only if R1's manager raises the issue.