It’s spring training, and apparently, the heat has gotten to some of the umpires because they have now begun ejecting players for entirely made-up things.
On Monday, Phildelphia’s Craig Kimbrel was on the mound and hit with a pitch clock violation in the bottom of the fourth inning. After said violation, Umpire Randy Rosenberg attempted to hand the ball to Phillies catcher JT Realmuto. However, just before Rosenberg dropped the ball in Realmuto’s glove, the catcher moved his hand,, and the ball fell to the ground.
Believing Realmuto had moved his glove on purpose, Rosenberg immediately ejected the catcher.
Homeplate umpire Randy Rosenberg ejects JT Realmuto for this pic.twitter.com/dkQtpU1bHt
— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) March 27, 2023
Twitter was quick to react to the bizarre scene.
Tell me again why we can't have automated umpires…
— chip goines (@chipgoines) March 27, 2023
The ump needs to be suspended immediately.
— Christian Burgoyne (@c_burgoyne) March 27, 2023
What a joke. He wasn't even looking at the umpire. Was distracted by something else.
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) March 27, 2023
The real winner here is JT Realmuto who got to end his spring training a couple of innings early. I bet the other players were jealous. https://t.co/vATh2GvEQP
— Ben Higgins (@BenHigginsSD) March 27, 2023
JT. Realmuto got ejected for this?! This umpire is out of his mind 😂😂😂
— Evan (@OhChev) March 27, 2023
I mean, I guess I get it. Why would you move your glove if you didn’t feel the ball? And if you moved your glove without feeling the ball, I guess, a hypersensitive person could take that personally.
I guess.
But how could you ever prove that? Could you imagine if this had happened in a regular season game? To have a star player ejected because of this?
In any event, the Phillies beat the Blue Jays 5-2. Realmuto went 1 for 2, scored a run and struck out.
The regular season truly cannot get here fast enough.
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