Fans react to player’s bizarre clock violation, ejection

As Jesse Winker proved Saturday night, there are still some gaping loopholes in pitch clock enforcement that need to be addressed.

But it doesn’t do any good to discuss those points in the middle of a game, as Winker did, earning an ejection after one of the most mild-mannered player-umpire “arguments” ever seen.

The Milwaukee Brewers slugger stepped in to face Tampa Bay Rays reliever Ryan Thompson in the eighth inning. With eight seconds left on the pitch clock, Winker was not ready to face the pitcher, per the new rule.

However, Thompson was standing several feet behind the pitching rubber at the time, not nearly ready to pitch.

That didn’t matter to home plate umpire Adam Hamari, who rang up a called strike one on Winker for violating the pitch timer.

After Winker struck out a few pitches later on a called third strike, he turned to Hamari to argue the timer violation and was immediately ejected.

Actually, to say Winker argued is an exaggeration. He may not have even looked sternly at Hamari. The scene seemed so peaceful. Even Hamari’s ejection motion seemed weirdly subdued.

No matter. Winker got an ejection, and the generally popular pitch clock revealed another glitch that needs to be fixed.

MLB fans on Twitter found both the call and ejection bizarre.

Weirdest ejection in MLB history? Both guys were, the ejection was calm, and Jesse Winker was called after getting tossed.#Brewers | #ThisIsMyCrew 
pic.twitter.com/lk0cTDHgJt

— Depressed New York Fan (@JudgeEnjoyer) May 20, 2023

It’s stupid and I don’t like it, but I’m combing over the rule right now, and there isn’t anything in there that explicitly says the pitcher has to be ready at that mark. Seems like an oversight that’ll be adjusted, but as written, they might have been right?

— extremely pleasant mail delivery guy (@dumbmailguy) May 21, 2023

[Jomboy Media, Photo Credit: FS1]