Umpire grants batter time in the middle of pitchers delivery, a breakdown
What Happened
In a tightly contested late-inning matchup, Archie Bradley of the Arizona Diamondbacks is locked in a battle with Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals. The Diamondbacks are clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Bradley is determined to hold onto the narrow advantage. As Bradley delivers his first pitch, Soto fouls it off down the left-field line. Soto takes a moment to inspect his bat, savoring the scent of the burnt wood. This small exchange highlights the chess match unfolding between the pitcher and the hitter, each vying for control of the at-bat. Bradley's next offering is an inside fastball, which Soto takes. The young slugger then steps out of the batter's box, prompting Bradley to voice his impatience, "Come on, dude. Come on, dude." Soto remains unfazed, taking his time to step back in, clearly trying to disrupt Bradley's rhythm. The umpire, Jim Wolf, grants Soto's request for time, much to the frustration of Diamondbacks manager Joe Girardi, who believes the umpire should not have allowed the interruption. As Bradley's leg is already in his delivery motion, he is forced to follow through, ultimately delivering a curveball that crosses the heart of the plate. Soto, seemingly unperturbed by the unconventional timing, takes the pitch, resulting in a ball. The battle continues, with Soto repeatedly stepping out and calling for time, testing the patience of both Bradley and the umpire. Ultimately, the umpire stands firm, allowing Soto's requests, much to the dismay of the Diamondbacks dugout. The at-bat culminates in a two-strike count, with Bradley deciding to go with an outside fastball, potentially hoping to steal a strike call from the umpire after the previous disruptions. This captivating exchange between the pitcher and the hitter showcases the intricate mental game that often unfolds in high-leverage baseball situations. Both Soto and Bradley are vying for the upper hand, using every trick in the book to gain an advantage and emerge victorious in this crucial late-inning showdown.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentbottom eighth archie bradley just got
the first out his team is down by one
run he's trying to hold him right there
gets a new ball he likes that one more
looks up at the batter's box and sees
juan soto and smiles a little and says
okay here he comes this will be fun
the first pitch he's gonna go right down
the middle with some off speed and
that's
fouled down the left field side and juan
soto is gonna take a lap he's gonna
sniff the bat because that's some burnt
wood that smells
good now this is the classic tale of a
pitcher trying to go
up tempo and speed it up and throw the
pitch as fast as he can and stay in his
rhythm nice inside fastball there he's
going outside
inside juan soto looks at him and the
batter
trying to slow things down and he's
trying to be in control
both want to be in control of the tempo
of the at-bat so juan steps in
he looks at archie bradley and he's
ready to go almost immediately goes
outside fastball catcher likes it soto
says i'm gonna take another stroll i'm
gonna sniff my bat again
that burnt wood archie brothers like
come on dude come on dude
come on dude step in the box soda's like
oh it's my time
uh we'll just you just wait on me
bradley waits patiently
gets the sign from real murdo they're
gonna bust him in time
soto calls time do you need time
probably not
probably just trying to mess with archie
because that's what you know
pitching and hitting is a lot of the
time just messing up timing
so bradley looks in they're staying with
the same pitch
inside fastball and
oh he misses up top he misses high
that's a ball
soto's gonna take another stroll just
another reminder you're on my time
bradley's waiting patiently waiting
patiently
getting jittery raw moodle calls for the
curveball soto calls time ump grants it
curveball right down the middle and
bradley's like what are you talking
about come on
my leg's going down my leg's already
going down girardi doesn't like it
this shouldn't be done if you don't
watch a lot of baseball but you watch
the breakdowns
it's definitely something batters do to
try and mess with pitchers because
they want to get in their head it's mind
games and they want it to be on their
time
the ump should not have granted this
because bradley's in his wind-up now a
lot of times the um say we got to grant
it what if the batter has something in
his eye
then it can be truly dangerous if he's
you know unable to get out of the way of
a pitch because there's something in his
eye like that would be the
the real spirit of it but a lot of times
it's just a mess around
and look the umpire like archie bradley
the ump's just starting to raise his
hand
he's just starting to raise his hands
and archie bradley his leg is coming
down
when he finally sees that it's called
time so he follows through with it
because that's the flip side it's
dangerous
if a pitcher was to try and stop
throwing that ball
and stop all the momentum so it's
actually good that archie bradley
followed through it's a nice curve maybe
one soda wanted that curve maybe he
wanted the off speed but he does say
you know my leg's going down and the
umpire doesn't care and joe girardi's
mad
and okay
do they stay with the curve ball because
now soto saw that that's what they were
gonna throw in this count the two two
count they
pivot they say let's go outside fastball
and
maybe that's a little off the plate but
maybe archie bradley deserves a call a
little off the plate
after the kind of nonsense time call or
maybe that's dotted perfectly in the
um's opinion
in your opinion maybe even my opinion i
don't know but i love this little inside
battle
between the batter and the pitcher and
also this this match up here the umpire
we're talking about
that's jim wolfe and this pitcher that's
archie bradley and guess what
they've both been on the same podcast
and guess what it's a podcast on the
john boy media network it's called the
chris rose rotation
go check it out