Aaron Boone ejected because he thought umpires robbed Aaron Judge of a home run, a breakdown
What Happened
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge steps up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning, with his team trailing the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 at their spring training ballpark. Judge, one of the premier hitters in Major League Baseball, faces off against Rays pitcher Orzy. After taking two sliders, one for a strike and one ball, Judge swings at a changeup and launches a towering drive down the right field line. As the ball soars through the air, the umpire at third base makes the call that it is a foul ball, much to the dismay of the Yankees dugout and fans. Yankees manager Aaron Boone immediately erupts, vehemently arguing that the ball cleared the shorter foul pole and should have been ruled a home run for Judge. Replays show the ball hooking around the foul pole, with the umpire seemingly unable to track the ball's flight path against the white sky. Boone continues to plead his case, adamant that the umpires have robbed Judge of a much-needed home run for the Yankees. The manager is ultimately ejected for his outburst, as the call on the field is upheld after a video review. Boone later explains that he could see the ball clear the foul pole from his vantage point, and that the third base umpire was simply unable to make the correct call due to the challenging angle and lack of visual cues in the minor league stadium. The controversial play underscores the difficulties that umpires can face in making split-second decisions, especially in unique ballpark configurations. While the Yankees are left frustrated by the missed call, the game continues with the Rays maintaining their 3-0 lead. Tensions remain high as the divisional rivals battle it out, with the outcome of the game still hanging in the balance.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentAaron Judge coming to the plate for the
Yankees. He's one of the better hitters
in the game and he's playing in his own
spring training stadium, the home of the
Rays. Three nothing lead in the eighth
inning facing off against Orzy for the
Rays. Two sliders, one a strike, one
below the zone. A perfect change up top
of the zone. Umpire completely misses it
and then Judge swings at the next
slider. We got a 22. There's a change up
up in the zone. He says, "Okay, what am
I going to see here?" I think it's going
to be that gone. 86 change up low and
in. Judge smashes it. Where did it go?
Usually you have seats in a crowd. They
call it foul. It's a minor league
stadium, so the foul pole is shorter.
Oh, that guy says home run. They're
saying, "What are you guys talking
about? That's a home run." The foul
poles are shorter. There's no stands in
the outfield to have the contrast of the
ball bounce off of just the white sky.
Pretty hard to do. We've got a bunch of
angles. This angle from home plate makes
it look foul, right? That looks foul the
way that angle is showing it to you.
Maybe it's kind of crosses the flag pole
around there. By the time it lands, it
hooks foul, but that does not matter.
just one does across this angle would
have you believe it crossed in fair and
hell might have even landed in the trees
in fair. The biggest issue with this
play is the third base umpire has to
make the call. I zoomed in on
him and then this is synced up. He's got
to make this call. He's got to turn find
it in the white sky, the white ball. He
doesn't get the highlighted uh yellow
circle around it and then he's like on
his knees. Where is it? Now this ball
crosses around there. I mean by the time
we turn that everyone is looking beyond.
So it's way beyond the foul pole. He's
still looking for it. Still looking for
it. It lands in the bushes. He's still
uh Okay. I saw I think I saw it land
foul. So it's foul. In no
way is he able to see it in the air. I
don't even know if his head turned fast
enough. And then he looks up right
there. And by the time he's looking up
straight up, the outfielder and the fans
are looking behind their
head. So I just feel like he didn't have
a call and maybe could have asked for
help. Maybe not. That guy is a ghast.
What? Science by editing. Science by
editing. I raised the foul pole. Now,
this should really be believed by none,
but I raised the foul ball, highlighted
the ball. Again, it's kind of a
deceiving angle. It's not perfect. It's
less deceiving than the other one, I
think, but we don't really know. They
called it foul, so they need
overwhelming evidence to overturn the
call. Cash is sitting pretty excited
about that. After review, call on the
field stands. It's a foul ball.
What? They're pissed off. That's a judge
homer.
You think it's a homer? I'll tell you
why Boon thought it was a homer later.
He says, "How do you miss that? Come
on." Now the atbat continues and they
think that ball is off the plate. Strike
zone had as a strike and Boon's just
going to let Adam now cuz now he's he's
really mad about the home run situation.
But now he can be mad about it that as
well. He's like, "Let's
go. [ __ ] a let's go. What are you
looking at? It's a [ __ ] homer. You
get the [ __ ] out. It's a homer. It's an
Aaron Judge
homer. You missed an Aaron Judge [ __ ]
homer. Absolutely. Going to hear about
it from us. What are you looking at?
It's a home
run. Yeah. And Boon got ejected. He's
upset about the strike call. Mostly
upset about the home run. We had him on
our show cuz we have Boon every week on
our show and he let us know all of his
thoughts in a much calmer and more
rational way and here they are. There
are a couple triggers for me that made
me know it was fair. I think the replay
judge how he started to go into his trot
after it. So he knew Louis Rojos turned
right to me and was like that's a fair
ball. Camo thought it was fair. And when
I went and argued with Scott Barry at
third he's like you know basically how
tough a call it was. I think it's
tougher there for the third base umpire
because he's got to turn around and find
the ball again, right? And then he's
looking up from a shorter angle. At home
plate, you follow the flight of the ball
the whole time and see it. Obviously,
it's a little more challenging not in a
big league park. I would propose that
call going to the homeplayed umpire.
So, there you have it. He broke it down
as best anyone could. All the elements.
What do you think? Fair,
foul, good system for calling, bad
system for calling. Thank you to
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and thank you to you guys for watching
it. Appreciate you as always. Enjoy
yourself some more