Michigan player ejected for bizarre reason against Vanderbilt
Opening day for the 2020 college baseball season was on Friday, and the Vanderbilt Commodores and Michigan Wolverines met up in a rematch of last year’s title series.
Though the Wolverines eventually won 4-3, there was a bizarre moment that took place in the ninth inning.
As you can see below, a Michigan player was ejected in the ninth inning for making a line in the dirt with his bat following a called strike:
this kid really got tossed in the 9th inning for …uh, swiping the dirt with his bat after a called strike? pic.twitter.com/n1wRlPp2zt
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) February 15, 2020
Clearly, the umpire made a bad call, so perhaps he was a bit touchy afterward? It didn’t seem like there was much there to warrant an ejection, but perhaps the player had been saying things all night?
Let’s hope the umpires grow some thicker skin as the season progresses.
Overly sensitive officials in all sports need a serious lesson in how to conduct themselves in games. This wasn’t it.
Totally agree. College basketball is the worst about it IMO. Always like having their input and mark on the game..
HaHaHaHaHa! As a Gator seeing this happen to a Missagain player makes your day. Who cares about Missagain. HaHaHa
yeah he had to have said something.
Ive umpired for years and have a very thick skin. But some actions warrant immediate ejection and drawing a line in the dirt is one of them. 100 out of 100 umps would gave ejected him for that. Has nothing to do with umpire”s sensitivity.
Defending your own is not very credible. You come off just as overly sensitive as the ref that made the ridiculous call. Tell your fellow refs it’s not about y’all.
I’m just curious, but can you clarify the reason behind this? I’m not the biggest baseball fan, so is this some secret code where players are critiquing the ump?
Arguing balls and strikes is an automatic ejection and has been for over a hundred years.
Agreed…but looked like the kid drew the line across the back of the batter’s box, not the inside line as if to try to “establish the inside corner in the ump’s face”.
I’m guessing the batter may have been mouthing off earlier and said something “extra special” that put the ump into overdrive.
Baseball players all over the world draw lines in the dirt with their bats, after strike AND ball calls. What this kid was so benign that even the Vanderbilt catcher was shocked. This is outrageous. I couldn’t even tell from that if the kid was really arguing the call. He was looking down at the 3rd base coach as he did it. If the umpire REALLY believes the kid was showing him up, the sensible thing to do would have been to just say something in the kids ear and let him know not to do it again. This ejection was a joke. Too bad Michigan’s coach couldn’t file a protest.
How can you tell from that angle that it was a bad call?
So what if he would’ve taken a swing after the called strike? Would that’ve been showing up the Ump also? Has the Ump provided a reason?