Umpire thinks the catcher embarrassed him and ejects him, a breakdown
What Happened
During a 2023 spring training game, Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto got ejected over a comical misunderstanding with a young umpire. Craig Kimbrel took a pitch clock violation, then rejected two baseballs in a row, asking the ump for replacements. When the umpire moved to hand Realmuto a new ball, Realmuto saw Kimbrel's eyes go up and assumed the ump was throwing the ball back to the pitcher, so he pulled his glove away. The umpire, a Triple-A ump working spring ball, felt embarrassed and tossed Realmuto, marking the first ejection of his career.
Why This Matters
Realmuto is one of the steadiest catchers in baseball, and getting run for the first time over a dropped glove during a meaningless March game is about as absurd as ejections get. The 2023 season was the debut year for the pitch clock, and you can see the new tempo throwing everyone off, including Kimbrel's leg-kick violation that started the whole sequence. The real issue here was communication. The umpire was a young AAU call-up trying to establish authority, and he read defiance into what was honestly just confusion. Realmuto had no idea the ball was coming to him because he wasn't even looking. A veteran ump probably swallows this and moves on. Instead it became a viral moment, and Realmuto fist-pumped his way off the field to a cheering crowd while the umpire was left explaining himself to his crew chief.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Craig Kimbrel, J.T. Realmuto. Teams: Cubs, Phillies.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentone of the funnier and Dumber objections
you're gonna see this breakdown is
brought to you by DraftKings got
Kimbrell and real Muto pitching to the
Blue Jays he's going to get called for a
pitch clock violation because his knee
went up after the clock hit zero clock's
at zero the knee is not up yet now
there's like zero zero point zero zero
shares there's been asking about that
this ump does not carry says no time
Tick Tock you took too long the Count's
now two and two now the UMP is thinking
you know he's a he's a kind of a rookie
up ump he's a AAA ump working spring
training gets up and down you gotta
prove himself and he's like these guys
are going to be mad at me I better have
my guard up meanwhile Kimbrell says you
know what I didn't want to pitch that
ball anyway I discard it give me a new
one so the UMP throws him a new ball now
real Muto puts his glove up he says hey
he wants a new ball he doesn't realize
this hump's gonna throw him the ball
he'll figure it out he's a smart guy so
Kimbrell takes that all and he inspects
it he's like touching it and he's
feeling he's looking at he's like ah
guys this ball stinks too I'm getting
rid of it so now real Muto puts his
glove up like he wants another ball now
the UMP is going to give him the ball in
the glove but Kimbrell just received the
ball from the Umpire so you can see
kimbrough's eyes go up to the UMP like
you're gonna throw it to me and you can
see real muto's eyes are looking at his
picture like oh he's expecting the UMP
to throw the ball to him again I'm not
needed puts his glove away and the UMP
and the um is made to look like a fool
you know oh what a dummy now we gotta
pick up that ball and the um like that's
it you've disgraced me you're gone go
remember was like what I thought you
were throwing him the ball back so I put
my glove down it's like oh no chance no
chance
I can't even see you how am I supposed
to know you're giving him the ball back
like what and the arm's like yeah he
embarrassed me and it was embarrassing
and I got embarrassed so I ejected him
it's like what dude how am I supposed to
know you're throwing in the ball back
I'm not even looking at you and then
you're throwing it to him what you threw
the first one into a second now now Dan
I have shown you the crew chief comes up
and he's like what's going on and JT's
like saw him looking up so I thought he
was throwing him the ball so I dropped
my glove
but then he thought that I did it on
purpose and I don't know I just thought
he was throwing him the ball uh and then
we go back to the UMP who's like well
um I don't know I threw him out I felt
disrespected and uh maybe I was wrong
maybe not meanwhile romuto has to tell
someone yeah I got thrown out someone
was like yo where are you going you done
yeah I got thrown out
like what like catch up guys come on now
he's leaving he tells dad Dan it's the
first time in my career and that is he's
played 2 000 games that's the first time
he's ever been ejected and it was
because of that which is crazy good
thing is that the crowd loves him he's
gonna fist pump his way out gonna walk
down the Outfield grass and uh say
goodbye to the game and just kind of
smile and laugh and try to figure it all
out next time Gotta Have Eyes back your
head and meanwhile the Umpire is like uh
um
[ __ ] I [ __ ] up here his breakdown's
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thank you to umpires like this making a
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stuff