Rockies Kyle Freeland Ejected Complaining From Dugout to 3rd Base Ump About Check Swing Call

[@adamwatkins1150]

coulda gone either way on that call

[@bluejaysbaseball]

They definitely need to call more check swings. “Did he attempt to strike at the pitch” Yes. There’s no 45 degree angle. Bat comes down that far it’s a swing in my book

[@rayray4192]

I have never figured out how to define and measure if a batter attempted to hit a pitch except on a high inside fastball. I know he’s not trying to hit the pitch even if he swings; he’s trying to not get hit; but in all other cases it’s difficult if not impossible to discern if a batter was attempting to hit a pitch. So I need a way to define a swing. I’ve arrived at this demarcation as a definition of a swing, or I heard it, and agreed, and adopted it: if the bat head travels far enough that the head of the bat is parallel with the front edge of home plate then that’s a strike. Do you think it’s a fair judgment?

[@truthillinois6397]

Ok once again, there are no rules regarding how far the bat crosses home plate for it to be a swing. The rule states if the hitter offers at the pitch then it’s a swinging strike.

[@vincentwendt720]

MLB, please give us a more definitive rule. "Attempt to strike at the pitch" doesn't help without something that says what an "attempt" should look like. On a play like this the defense is always going to want a swing called and the offense is always going to want a no-swing called.

[@dustinbennie1813]

So they were given a gift of a call on the inside part of the plate only to bitch and complain about a borderline check swing call?... This season is just a bad look for the MLB all the way around.

[@andrewcreech8158]

Great strikeout call form by the homeplate ump

[@mordsythe]

Chirp chirp chirp SEEYA!!

[@pythor2117]

Free comin to his brothers aid. I like it

[@glenandbrandy]

Umps with tender ears should grow up and focus on the game. Borderline call but then so was the called strike. Whiners gonna’ whine…

[@rayray4192]

Umpires were trying to concentrate on the game. The game was stopped and delayed by a petulant child tantrum.

[@CommonSense823]

@@rayray4192 It was stopped by the petulant child in the black coat at third base. By your logic, there should probably be no fans in the stands either so as not to risk bruising your delicate umpire ego.

[@rayray4192]

@@CommonSense823 bullshit. Umpires never want to call time out. The game was stopped and delayed by a protestor. Why watch when you are triggered by authority? Are you energized by being triggered? Do you tell police to fuck themselves, and in general, hate authoritarian figures? Umpires always want to get on and off the field with zero conflicts and zero ejections. But I’d stupid human tricks happen stupid human prizes will be handed out.

[@alanhess9306]

@@CommonSense823 You are wrong as usual. Where do you get the idea that it's ok for players to chirp at the umpire from the dugout? Do you not know it is the manager's job to interact with the umpires? Players have no business acting like this and umpires do not need to tolerate such nonsense. This is a good, well deserved ejection.

[@Suzyrn601]

Here's a novel idea...... Let's let the umpires umpire and the overpaid whiney baby players play!!! Players have been coddled for so long they think they need to do everyone's job. Most don't even know the rules well enough to even umpire high school ball

[@CommonSense823]

Here's an idea... Hold umpires to performance standards similar to what the players face. When they perform shitty, like they often do, send them down to the minors, cut their pay,. Suspend them and fine them for not having the ego control to not make the game about themselves.

[@rayray4192]

@@CommonSense823 you are so incredibly ignorant and biased. A genuine fool. Every MLB umpire I have met and received training from is humble, kind, generous, and really smart. How do you think these men are promoted to MLB? They perform at a higher level than their peers. All umpires have evaluators who judge their capabilities. These umpires spent 10 years working their way up the minor leagues. They start in MLB as a vacation sub. Every game they work is evaluated by the crew chief. The crew chief sends In reports to the league office. Post season games are not offered if an umpire makes more mistakes than his peers. Where do you think the better umpires are going to come from? These are the better umpires. It costs $10 K to go to umpire academy with no assurance at all that you will be offered a job in short season A ball. If hired a long journey starts that can end in an umpire being released in triple A. Not many men want to live in hotel rooms, airports, rental cars, and umpire dressing rooms. Every game for an umpire is an away game. Your asinine attitude and expectation that umpires should be perfect or even near perfect is almost insane. It’s certainly childish and ignorant. There’s a huge difference between arrogance and confidence. The league office wants umpires to be a confident authority figure. Exactly zero umpires think the game is about them. Why, because it would be crazy since all facts point to the game being about the players, and if you really knew what the game is all about you would know the game is all about fans who have money. You don’t sound like you like baseball, and you are triggering by umpires, so why watch? There are no better umpires skippy. Reality is umpires make mistakes like players and managers and coaches. Get over it and shut the fuck up.

[@Suzyrn601]

@@CommonSense823 That would be a wonderful idea. The only problem is that they are already held to a standard. The MLBUA reviews every game and the calls that were made. The home plate umpire gets a scorecard after every game that shows him the area that he was favoring or not calling enough. I know of some umpires right now that need to be sent to the shower. I think we all will agree that Angel Hernandez is probably one of the worst (if not the worst) umpire to ever call a game. I'm not sitting here trying to say that there aren't some bad stinkers out there. But to paint with broad strokes like so many "talking heads" do on TV that umpires are horrible is just wrong.

[@CommonSense823]

@@Suzyrn601 That's fair. It does take a minority to make the whole group look bad though. The union protecting them is bad for baseball, and frankly it's bad for the good umpires in the game. There needs to be something harsher than "you don't get to call World Series games" for terrible performance. Being promoted to the majors shouldn't be a lifetime appointment.

[@Suzyrn601]

@@CommonSense823 I agree with part of what you said. I think what a lot of people think is that if they don't hear about an umpire getting reprimanded then he didn't. I think back to the Joe West incident where he grabbed the pitchers jersey and shoved him away from him (I'm sorry I don't remember the pitchers name) but he got nailed hard with I think a 8 game suspension and a monetary fine. I don't recall hearing anything from ESPN or any other sports talk about the situation. The only way I knew about it was because I'm a high school umpire and dug into it to find out what he got. The umpires union keeps all that stuff hush hush. I agree that there needs to be more than just "Hey, you don't get to umpire post season" this year. I don't know about sending them back to the minors. If you develop that train that sends umpires down and back up again I think you will wind up with a subpar umpiring crew in the majors (for the most part).