Should Umps Be Held Accountable For Bad Decisions?
ALSO: OHTANI MAKES AN EARLY RUN AT NL MVP HONORS
Pregame Pepper
Did You Know . . .
Who woulda thunk it? All-Star starters last year, Julio Rodriguez and Ronald Acuna, Jr. combined for two homers (one apiece) in the month of April . . .
Shōta Imanaga is the first Cubs starter to go at least 4-0 through the first five games of his career, the 37th in MLB history, and the only starter since Boston’s Dave Ferriss in 1945 to go at least 4-0 with an ERA below 1.00 in his first five career games . . .
Angels superstar Mike Trout, the first-month home run leader, will miss up to six weeks after surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee . . .
The injury opened a door for journeyman outfielder Kevin Pillar, who had been released by the Chicago White Sox before donning a halo . . .
With Tristan Casas sidelined indefinitely, the Boston Red Sox will need to piece things together at first base for quite awhile. The situation at second is better, since Vaughn Grissom has returned after missing the whole season with a hamstring injury suffered in spring training . . .
Speaking of Sox, the Chicago version is struggling so badly that some prognosticators think they could challenge the 120-loss season of the 1962 expansion Mets . . .
Veteran Atlanta southpaw Chris Sale, who broke in with the White Sox, has pitched at least seven innings in three straight starts for the first time since 2018 . . .
Also in the AL Central, the Royals started 17-12, just 2 1/2 games back of the Guardians for the AL Central lead. Kansas City’s rotation of Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, Michael Wacha, Alec Marsh, and Brady Singer combined for a 2.98 ERA that ranked third in the majors . . .
Infielder Jackson Holliday, the consensus top prospect in the majors, is back in the minors after a horrendous debut with the Baltimore Orioles . . .
He’s the most prominent of the many Not Ready for Prime Time players tried by major-league clubs this spring.
Leading Off
Two Sides of Ump Accountability:
One ump won’t admit a bad ejection, another crew chief admitted a blown call
By Jeff Kallman
You couldn’t script two more contrasting aftermaths. One week, an umpire tossed a manager without cause and doubled down on it even more erroneously when questioned by the press. The following weekend, a crew chief admitted his guys blew it with a flagrantly blown interference call at second base.
Baseball government still refuses or at least ignores the necessity of umpire accountability regardless. They’ll tinker with baseballs and uniforms. They’ll forge postseasons that make mockeries of pennant races and championship play. But they won’t even think about holding umpires to the kind of accountability they demand from players, coaches, managers, clubhouse personnel.
22 April: First inning, Yankee Stadium. Manager Aaron Boone and a few Yankees chirped over a check swing on a low pitch that hit Athletics leadoff batter Esteury Ruiz in the foot. Plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt got help from first base umpire John Tumpane, Tumpane ruled Ruiz to first, and Wendelstedt ordered Boone and his troops to stop flapping their yaps.
Boone and his troops obeyed the order. A blue-shirted Yankee fan seated behind the Yankee dugout hollered something that looked like “Go home, ump!” Wendelstedt turned to the dugout where Boone stood as tight lipped as possible—and ejected Boone. The manager pleaded that it wasn’t himself but Mr. Blue Shirt.
“I don’t care who said it,” Wendelstedt hollered. “You’re gone!”
The A’s went on to win the game, 2-0. After which, Wendelstedt gave a vivid demonstration that three little words (I was wrong) weren’t programmed into his software:
This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. I heard something come from the far end of the dugout, had nothing to do with his area but he’s the manager of the Yankees. So he’s the one that had to go.
The most anyone in baseball government would say was to call the Boone purge “a bad ejection.” That was like calling the 1977 New York blackout rioting and looting a little shopping spree.
28 April. American Family Field, Milwaukee. Top of the sixth inning, Yankees and Brewers tied at four, after the Brewers tied it in the bottom of the fifth, when Brewers shortstop Willy Adames whacked an RBI double and first baseman Jake Bauers followed at once with a two-run homer. Now, Yankee center fielder Aaron Judge was aboard with a leadoff walk and left fielder Alex Verdugo was at the plate.
Verdugo hit a simple double play bouncer to Brewers second baseman Brice Turang. With Judge gunning it from first, Turang sent a backhand toss to Adames, who stepped on the pad as Judge dropped into a slide. As Adames crossed the pad and began to throw, Judge send his left hand skyward. The ball ricocheted off Judge’s sliding mitt and bounced its way to Bauers with Verdugo very safe at first.
Know this about Judge: The Leaning Tower of 161st Street is tall enough that even dropping into a slide his upraised hand makes the Statue of Liberty resemble a mouse reaching for a tablecloth. He may plead that he’s been sliding the same way his whole career, but he hasn’t always raised his hand aiming to block a double play throw.
The missed interference didn’t seem to suggest any difference maker at first, with an infield pop out following immediately. But Brewers reliever Abner Uribe walked Anthony Rizzo on a full count. That proved soon enough to be comparable to a family heading for vacation but leaving the doors to the house open.
The Yankees raided the joint at once. An RBI single (Gleyber Torres), a bases-loading walk (Oswaldo Cabrera), a two-run single (José Treviño), a run-scoring wild pitch (with Anthony Volpe at the plate), another walk (to Volpe), another RBI single (Juan Soto), a double steal for second and third, and another two-run single. (Judge.) First, second, and third degree burglary.
The Brewers got one back in their half of the sixth on a bases-loaded walk, but an RBI single (Cabrera) and sacrifice fly (Treviño) in the seventh plus Rizzo’s two-run homer in the eighth made it 15-5, Yankees, to stay.
What of the interference call against Judge that never came?
Umpiring crew chief Andy Fletcher admitted postgame that his crew blew it. “After looking at it off the field in replay, it appears that the call was missed,” he told a pool reporter. “It should've been called interference because it wasn't a natural part of his slide. It didn't appear that way to us. We did everything we could to get together and get it right. But after looking at it, it appears that it should've been called interference.”
As mea culpas go, Fletcher’s wasn’t quite of a piece with Jim Joyce owning up at once to robbing Armando Galarraga’s perfect game. But Fletcher was hardly the master mealymouth Wendelstedt was. And he doesn’t seem to carry himself in the carelessly cavalier style of the Angel Hernandezes, Laz Diazes, or C.B. Bucknors.
In the wake of the Wendelstedt controversy, there came an accountability demand from one of the game’s most far-sighted players. Rehabbing at Round Rock for the Rangers, pitcher Max Scherzer laid down the law: “We need to rank the umpires. Let the electronic strike zone rank the umpires. We need to have a conversation about the bottom—let’s call it 10%, whatever you want to declare the bottom is—and talk about relegating those umpires to the minor leagues.”
The Korean Baseball Organization has sent consistently errant umps to the minors for re-training for several years. I’m not sure whether Scherzer is aware of that. But Max the Knife might be onto something. Imagine. Robby the Umpbot as an agent of umpire accountability. That’s an idea whose time may be several years overdue.
Jeff Kallman is an IBWAA Life Member who writes Throneberry Fields Forever. He has written for the Society for American Baseball Research, The Hardball Times, Sports-Central, and other publications. He has lived in Las Vegas since 2007, where he plays the guitar and writes music when not writing baseball. He remains a Met fan since the day they were born.
Cleaning Up
Shohei Stakes Early Claim On National League’s Most Valuable Player Award
By Dan Schlossberg
Neither surgery nor the shadow of a gambling scandal could stop Shohei Ohtani from becoming an instant success after switching leagues.
Through the first month of the season, the $700 Million Man of the Los Angeles Dodgers led the National League in slugging while teammate Mookie Betts — who bats in front of him — ranked first in batting average and on-base percentage.
No wonder the Dodgers top the NL West again despite a wobbly pitching staff held up mainly by newly-acquired Tyler Glasnow, who leads the league in strikeouts, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is finally finding his footing after a start shakier than the earthquakes of his native Japan.
Ohtani, who bats left-handed but throws right-handed, can’t pitch this year as he heals from elbow (but not Tommy John) surgery. The Dodgers don’t seem to mind since he’s generating tons of merchandise sales and is also the man most responsible for Yamamoto signing with L.A. ($325 million, 12 years) after a protracted bidding war also involving both New York teams.
Because he wears No. 17, Ohtani has spawned a Japanese holiday on the 17th day of every month.
That’s when the people of Oshu, his hometown, wear their Ohtani jerseys en masse while celebrating Ohtani Day.
The chief cheerleaders are known as the Ōendan, or Shohei Ohtani Hometown Cheering Team.
According to Phil Nevin, his last manager with the Angels, “All he does and all he wants is about one thing: he wants to win. And he’s probably the smartest baseball player I’ve ever been around.”
That never happened during his six-year tenure in Anaheim, where the Angels failed to have even one winning season — let alone reach the playoffs.
With Ronald Acuna, Jr. and Matt Olson mired in month-long slumps to start the season, Ohtani already has first dibs on the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award (he’s already won it twice in the American League).
If he wins, Ohtani will join Frank Robinson (1961 Reds, 1966 Orioles) as the only men to take the trophy in both leagues. He should also join Robinson in the Baseball Hall of Fame the minute he becomes eligible.
Opponents of the Dodgers face a nightly troika of Betts, Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman — arguably the best top-third of a lineup anywhere in baseball.
All have long-term contracts, with the 29-year-old Ohtani signed through 2034.
No wonder Dave Roberts is smiling.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is weekend editor of Here’s The Pitch, national baseball writer for forbes.com, and contributor to Sports Collectors Digest, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Memories & Dreams, MLB Report, and many other outlets. His latest book is a hardcover Hank Aaron biography. E.mail Dan via ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
Rafael Palmeiro never led his league in home runs but holds the record for most home runs hit (569) without a home run crown . . .
He came close in 1999 when he hit 47, one less than league leader Ken Griffey, Jr. . . .
The outfielder-first baseman racked up 3,020 hits while playing for the Cubs, Rangers, and Orioles . . .
Gary Gaetti was the only player in baseball history to hit home runs in his first at-bats of both the regular season and the post-season . . .
Although no one hit a grand-slam in their first at-bat during the 20th century, it’s happened four times in the 21st: Jeremy Heredia (2005), Ken Kozmanoff (2006), Daniel Nava (2010), and Brandon Crawford (2011) . . .
The three players with inside-the-park homers in their first at-bats were Luke Stewart, Don Mueller, and Johnny LeMaster.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.