Umpire makes a terrible call then threatens to eject the player, a breakdown
What Happened
Brett Batty comes to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning with a runner on first base, two outs, and a 0-0 count. Frammer Valdez is pitching. On the second pitch of the at-bat, the umpire calls it a strike and claims Batty challenged the pitch by tapping his helmet. Batty says he never touched his helmet and did not challenge. Manager Mendy comes out to argue. The umpire insists Batty's hand went toward his helmet, but Batty maintains he only moved his hand up without actually tapping. The umpire threatens to eject Batty if he continues arguing. The key issue: Batty's hand moved toward his helmet but never made contact. The replay shows his hand flash up as he turns his head, raising questions about whether he started a tap and stopped. What makes this significant is that the Mets exhausted their challenges on this phantom call, leaving them without a challenge for the rest of the game in the sixth inning. The umpire appears to have made an incorrect call and then doubled down when confronted.
Why This Matters
Brett Batty gets absolutely robbed on a pitch that was nowhere near the zone, but here's the kicker: the ump calls it a strike anyway, then threatens to eject him for a challenge he literally never made. It's the perfect storm of terrible umping and even worse umpire ego.
With 159K views, this breakdown cracks the top 1,100 videos in Jomboy history, proving that nothing hits quite like an umpire being completely full of it.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Yankees.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThe case of the Phantom Tap. It's
brought to you by this shirt. We've got
Brett Batty coming up in a two to one
game in the bottom of the sixth inning
with a runner on first base and there's
two outs and the count is 00. That's all
the information you need. Frammer Valdez
on the bump. He's returning from
suspension. Watch the previous video if
you want to see like what was that for.
First pitch, curveball in there. Next
pitch, listen in.
>> That's a strike
challenge. No. Yeah, Batty. He said, "I
didn't challenge." He started to go to
his head, then he said, "I didn't
challenge the pitch."
>> OH BOY.
>> OH BOY. Is right. He never touched his
helmet. Of that, we are certain. And the
pitch is a strike. Maybe the umpire just
wanted to brag a little bit. Make sure
everyone knows how good I am. Let's
listen to the hot mics again.
>> Pitch is a strike. The Mets have
exhausted their challenges.
>> The Mets are out of challenges now. So,
it didn't really affect the at bat, but
they have no challenges left. And that
could hurt him in a close game in the
sixth inning.
>> Oh man, that's the end of it. He didn't
touch.
>> No, I didn't. Junior
>> touch his head. Andy,
>> he didn't tap. Manager of the Mets.
Mendy comes out. Triple M. He No, he did
not. The umpire, I think what he says
here is something along the lines of,
"Well, it looked like to me his hand
went to his helmet. I saw it. I put in a
challenge." He did not tap his helmet,
though. Come on. And Brett Ba's like,
"What are you talking about, dude? My
hand went up, but I didn't tap." He's
like, "Well, I saw him go up." Well,
that's though. Well, that's
He did not do that. Come on.
It's ridiculous.
And when he gets back, Brett Batty hot
mics again. His back is towards us. You
can hear him say, "I touched my
>> Did I touch my helmet, though?" Because
I think what he's saying is, "Yes, sure,
my hand went towards my head, but I
didn't touch my helmet." And the umpire
says back to him, "Go toward your
helmet." That's what I saw.
>> Stop right now or I'm going to run you.
That's what he said. Okay. It's as
simple as that. Your hand went towards
your helmet. Did you touch your helmet?
No. What? I'm just going to allow
players to just throw their hand up and
hover it there. Make me pay attention
like crazy. No way. Let's look at the
replay. Here it is. Borderline pitch
right there. The hand flashes up as he
turns and then he's looks back. Was he
about to tap? What do you guys think?
You guys think that that was his
intention? Like he started the tap and
realized, "Nah, I shouldn't." Huh? Did
he? I don't know. Sure looks like it.
That's what Junior Valentine the saw.
But get your detective eyes on and watch
what happens next. We're super duper
snoo. Did you see it? first class
private eye. His hand went to his helmet
on the very next pitch. And this was the
first pitch of the atbat and the hand
goes to the helmet. And then this is the
second pitch of the bat. The hand
doesn't touch the helmet, but he gets
called for tapping. And this is the next
pitch and it goes straight to the
helmet. So what gives? Are helmet
adjusters just going to have to figure
it out? Was he going to tap and then
realize he didn't want to tap, proving
the umpire, well, not right, but proving
him right in his world. Or was he going
to adjust his helmet like the other
times and the umpire was just on the
defensive and also wanted to show off
that he got the call correct? What do
you guys think? Do helmet adjusters have
to be on high alert? Huh? I don't know.
I don't know. They should clean this up.
This shouldn't be something we deal
with. Thank you for solving the mystery
with me. It was brought to you by this
shirt and its Mets counterpart limited
edition exclusive offer. Subway Series
drop. There's a Bronx one, there's a
Queens one, there's a Mets one, there's
a Yankees one. And because both teams
play in the Subway Series,