Rizzo Motions for the Umpire to Move, a breakdown
What Happened
In a 2019 Cubs game, Jomboy breaks down a small piece of baseball etiquette he admits he'd never seen before. After Kris Bryant walks, the field umpire moves into the infield and sets up behind the pitcher's throwing arm. When Anthony Rizzo steps in and fouls off the second pitch, he scans the outfield, taps the top of his head, and looks toward the ump. The umpire taps his own head back, confirms the request, and shifts to the other side so he's no longer blocking Rizzo's view of the pitch.
Why This Matters
This is one of those unwritten communications between hitters and umpires that almost never gets explained on a broadcast. With a runner on first, the field umpire repositions into the diamond to better judge plays at second, but his body can end up in the hitter's sightline, basically acting like a moving batter's eye. The head-tap gesture is Rizzo's polite way of saying he's getting distracted, and the ump simply slides over. No rule forces the ump to move, it's professional courtesy and game management. The clip's appeal is its smallness. Rizzo, one of the more cerebral hitters of his era, knew the signal cold, which tells you this exchange happens far more often than fans realize. It's the kind of detail that makes Jomboy's early breakdowns feel like inside access.
With 2.6M views, this ranks #73 of 1,583 Jomboy breakdowns, landing in the top 4.6% of the catalog for a clip that's really just a guy tapping his head.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Anthony Rizzo. Teams: Yankees.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentso I just saw this posted and explained
on reddit and I figured I'd share for
those who don't look at or at it because
it's pretty interesting I'd never seen
this before
Chris Bryan gets walked all right so now
there's a runner on first so the field
umpire we can see him here he comes in
we can see him change position he comes
in and now he's gonna stand here all
right and now Rizzo is up and this is
the second pitch of the at-bat and he
fouls it off and as he's looking out he
scans the field you see him do this
motion where he hits his head and I'd
never seen I've never seen this before
taps his head and the only play tom says
you asking for this and he says yep and
he taps his head too I didn't know this
was a hand motion I was done now if you
see down here at the bottom of the
screen you can see a little thumps head
kind of move and shift where's it right
there you see his head shift all right
so a couple pitches later now we can
Rizzo puts it in play and you can see
that the UMP is now on the other side of
the back so Rizzo was asking him to move
because he was standing behind the
pitchers throwing arm you know walking
you know like a batter's eye he was
getting in the way I just never knew
that this was a hand motion that batters
and umpires all new but like Rizzo knew
what the motionless so this is a part of
baseball that has just escaped me
forever thought it was interesting so
there you go