Jeff McNeil freaks out over umpire's call that might have been correct, a breakdown
What Happened
Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets is facing off against Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets in a heated at-bat. DeGrom starts McNeil off with a high fastball that McNeil fouls off. The camera captures a hilarious moment of two fans executing a perfect mirror-image high five in the stands. The at-bat continues, with deGrom mixing in his devastating slider to keep McNeil off-balance. McNeil eventually works the count full at 3-2. DeGrom shakes off a sign from the catcher Jonah Heim, then delivers a high fastball that McNeil takes for what he believes is ball four. However, the umpire calls it a strike, much to McNeil's dismay. "No! God damn it! Not even close. No way!" McNeil screams in disbelief, his voice echoing the famous Austin Powers quote. The umpire immediately ejects McNeil, who appears genuinely surprised and confused, asking his teammates, "What? I got ejected?" Replays show the pitch was indeed a borderline call, with the ball potentially crossing the bottom of the strike zone. The analyst notes that based on McNeil's eye line, the pitch may have been at the knee, which would constitute a legal strike per the umpire's criteria. Despite the questionable call, McNeil reacts furiously, throwing his bat and helmet before being escorted off the field. The umpire stands firm, adjusting his mask with an authoritative stance as he ejects the irate McNeil. The tense at-bat and dramatic ejection encapsulate the rivalry and competitiveness between these two Mets teammates. With the score close and the game on the line, emotions boil over as McNeil passionately argues a call he believes was incorrect. Though the replay suggests the umpire's decision may have been justified, McNeil's emphatic reaction adds excitement and entertainment to this crucial moment in the game.
Why This Matters
Jeff McNeil absolutely loses it over a call that was probably actually a strike, and it's hilarious because he knows it deep down. Plus there's this legendary moment where two random fans pull off a perfect mirror-image high five that's legitimately more coordinated than most baseball plays.
With 185K views, this McNeil freakout ranks #1035 all-time on the Jomboy channel, proving that even the most debatable calls still hit different.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Jacob deGrom, Jeff McNeil.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentMcNeil stepping to the plate against his former teammate Jacob DeGrom.
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DeGrom looking in, going to open him up with a high fastball
because if you can get a strike on that, it sets him up for a lot of other things.
Hits it well, but foul into that fan's hands.
He's excited. Oh, yeah.
Lefty, righty high five.
One of the rarest combinations of high fives.
The guy on the right's got his right hand out, and the guy on his left has left hand out.
So it's kind of like a mirror image high five.
They pull it off really well.
You see people attempt to do high fives like that, and usually it's awful,
but they did it really well.
He did it again.
Wow, this guy's just doing mirror high fives.
That lady gives the right hand, and he gives the left hand.
He's always going off hands.
That would trip me up, I think.
Anyway, now DeGrom has the foul ball and the high fastball
so he can have fun and play off of that,
and that exactly what he does.
Throws the slider, which tunnels perfectly for a long time,
and then goes down while the fastball went up.
Look at that overlay.
That's stupid, and that sucks, and that's why he's really good.
Now McNeil, oh, he's got a torpedo bat.
How about that?
And that kid got a ball.
Look at that kid right behind him.
He's asking for the ball.
I didn't notice this while I was editing it.
He's asking for the ball behind McNeil's head,
and the ball boy or whoever it is gets it to him.
Perfect.
Fans having fun.
Give it to the kid to your left.
He's way smaller.
He's younger.
0-2.
You don't have to.
You can keep the ball.
I'm kind of out on demanding people share balls with kids.
You should.
You don't have to.
0-2.
McNeil, high fastball.
He went high.
He went low.
He went up again.
He took it for a ball, and then he goes low again,
so he's just doing that same dance,
but this time McNeil's on him.
2-2 pitch.
Fastball again outside, so we've gotten fastball, slider,
fastball, slider, fastball.
What does he go with here?
Because now it's 3-2.
Is he going to put the slider, the bottom of the zone?
You know what I would call?
I would call for a fastball.
Fastball, bottom of the zone.
He hasn't done that yet.
McNeil's got the fastball trained high.
Maybe he'll freeze him with the fastball low.
I don't.
I genuinely, at this point, I edited this a couple days ago.
I don't remember what he throws, but I know it leads to funny stuff.
He shook.
Okay, shakes, and then he says yes.
Fake shakes or real shakes?
Let's see.
Looking in.
Got the petted eyes just staring down.
Oh, yeah.
I forgot.
I forgot.
McNeil hits the catcher in the head with his bat.
On the.
Look at that.
On the follows through.
He just whacks the catcher.
Heim in the face with his bat.
This is my bad, man.
Obviously, no one else's fault but yours.
You just hit the catcher in the face with your bat on the backswing.
Smiling about it.
My bad.
My bad, man.
Okay.
Yeah.
So then here's the 3-2 pitch, and he did go fastball above the zone.
No!
I genuinely forgot that was the call.
But me and Jonah Heim, same page.
McNeil doesn't like it.
He thinks it was a ball.
No!
God damn it!
Not even close.
No way!
That screaming no way just reminds me of Austin Powers when Dr. Evil gets the globe lowered
on his head, and then the meteor hits him in the nuts.
He goes, no way!
And that's kind of what McNeil delivered.
No way!
It's good.
Just can't believe it.
He got ejected.
He did not see that he got ejected, but Mendy comes out.
Umpire says, this is not down.
You know?
Get out.
He says, are you shitting me?
Are you fucking kidding me?
He does not know he's been ejected.
Umpire fixes his pants or whatever.
That was.
Puts his mask back on like a badass.
Umpires, this is actually part of their training.
You got to put the mask on like as if there's sound effects.
That's genuinely part of their training.
I saw a video about it recently, and I was like, wow, that's weird.
So now he's walking down the dugout.
He doesn't know he's been ejected.
He just thinks it's a bad call.
He's looking for support amongst his teammates.
It wasn't really a bad call, I don't think.
And then he goes, oh, my God, that's horrible.
And then they say, you got ejected.
And look at his face.
He goes, what?
They don't show it any more than this.
But, yeah, he didn't know he got ejected.
Look at his eyebrows go up.
Fucking what?
But, yeah, umpire.
Hell of an ump stance and call.
Just ha, right away.
And then as he ran away, I think that's in there.
Let's see.
Obviously, the box and the glove tell you a lot.
But, like, I don't think that's that egregious of a call.
You know, maybe it crosses.
If you look at McNeil's eyes, he's looking out ahead of him right there.
And then I go to the next frame, and he's looking in front of him.
So, maybe that's where it is.
And then the next frame, he's looking kind of behind him.
So, judging by that science, this is where the ball is when it's in front of him.
And I think you can argue that's at the knee.
Remember, there's a very, very tip of the spear needs to be at the very bottom of the knee.
We did, like, a Venn diagram, and it was, like, just the lines of the circles connected.
That means strike.
So, I think that's a good call.
I think it's a good freak out by McNeil, too.
But he did throw the bat.
Then he threw the helmet.
And the umpire, like, right away, they cut away from this, too.
But just right away, he's going to eject him right there.
It cuts away from it.
But he's gone.
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