How a pivotal Cardinals player proves he is worth his money after being ejected in the first inning.
Now in fourth place in the National League Central, the St. Louis Cardinals (21-26) are having yet another dismal season.
Lars Nootbaar, the outfielder, is having a career-worst year as well.213 in 34 games with five home runs and 17 RBI. Thus, it appears that Nootbaar vented his frustration on home plate umpire Mike Estabrook when he struck out looking in the bottom of the first inning over a call he didn’t agree with. When he returned to the dugout, this continued right up until Paul Goldschmidt’s at-bat.
As a result, Nootbaar had his first ejection of the game and he and Estabrook had a very close contact.
“We proved to you that it wasn’t a strike,” John Rooney, the play-by-play announcer for the Cardinals, stated. “In the first inning, there has been a sizable strike zone on both sides. With Mike Estabrook, there has been cause for complaint on both sides.”
The automatic ball-strike system, which is in operation in Triple-A and has been tested in the minor leagues, may ultimately be able to prevent missed calls like this one, which resulted in an ejection.
On May 4, New York Yankees star Aaron Judge stuck out on a borderline pitch against the Detroit Tigers. After sharing a few words with the umpire, Judge was tossed as he walked back to the dugout.
On Monday, Starling Marte of the New York Mets was ejected for arguing balls and strikes, but the ejection didn’t come until he tried to take his place in the field.
While there are plenty of examples of players being in the wrong or taking their protests too far, MLB should have a problem with umpires removing the players fans paid money to see. An automated ball-strike system could not only take the pressure of having to make more than 200 close calls a game off umpires, but it could also remove many arguments that often lead to ejections.
