Anthony Rendon never says a word but gets ejected from the game, a breakdown
What Happened
Back on April 8, 2018, Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon got tossed by home plate umpire Marty Foster without saying a single word. Rendon was already steaming from a called strikeout in the first inning. When he came up again in the third against Mets lefty Steven Matz, he watched a borderline curveball clip the top of the zone, then took strike three on another close pitch and flipped his bat in frustration. He never opened his mouth, but Foster rang him up anyway. Manager Davey Martinez stormed out, argued, and got ejected too.
Why This Matters
Umpires can eject a player for actions, not just words, and a bat flip plus visible disgust counts. Rendon's case is the rare one where the body language alone did him in. He genuinely seemed baffled, and Jomboy's frame-by-frame backs him up a bit since both strikeout pitches sat right on the edges. The bigger picture: this was a quiet, slumping early-2018 stretch for a player who'd become an MVP-level bat. By 2019 Rendon hit .319 with 34 homers, led the majors in doubles, finished third in NL MVP voting, and won a World Series with Washington before signing a seven-year deal with the Angels. The 2018 ejection was a footnote, but it showed a guy who let his bat and his face do the talking, sometimes too well.
At 2.6M views it ranks #72 of 1,583 Jomboy breakdowns, putting it in the top 4.5% of the entire catalog.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Anthony Rendon.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentgoing back to April of 2018 for this one
it's brought to you by talking baseball
in the first inning Rendon got rung up
on that strike it was inside he didn't
like it look at his body language you're
like okay I'm out of here so then he
comes up in the third inning for his
next at-bat he already wasn't happy with
the first strike any kind of showed it
so the UMP kind of saw that but still
nothing you would get rung up four steps
into the batter's box we got Matz on the
mound drops a nice curveball strike one
I like that pitch a lot I think it's
good and I enjoyed it oh one pitch Matt
spikes that one then the next one he's
gonna float high got a lick the finger
now it's to one curve again this time
Clips the top of the zone and you can
see Rendon doesn't like this I think it
did come down by the letters there but
red Owens not happy kind of goes back to
the head don't care about anything steps
out of the box I'm passed to ask him to
step back into the box very next pitch
BAM
strike three Ren don't throws the bat
doesn't say word is this a strike check
out my super scientific chart here when
is it over the plate is it over the
plate now is it over the plate now and a
ball is it over the plate now it's
behind the plate there but yeah so it
was a pretty close pitch I think that
one's pretty close Rendon just tosses
the bat in just in defeat and disgust
and like okay what am I even doing up
here this is pointless
umpire did not like that says get out of
here
like what just throw me out
I'm says what was that what is that
everyone run down just laughing like
what
so Davey Martinez comes out he's gonna
chew up the UMP and he's telling him
that ball was wildly inside that ball
was kind of a good pitch but I think
there was some other calls in this game
whatever Davies got his guys back now he
gets tossed the most unenthusiastic toss
and he spikes his hat between his legs
starts digging so it was all the way
over there it was all the way over there
it wasn't but I appreciate the theatrics
by Davey here we cut to the crowd and
this guy says Thatta boy David and no
one calls him David so we're all weirded
out by that fan it was at the knees
either
it was actually I think it's fine but
Rendon didn't say a word I just love
this shot of her and I'm like wait what
I did not open my mouth that all and
Marty Foster rings him up this one was
brought to you by talking baseball it's
a podcast we talk about baseball