A.J. Pierzynski critical of MLB’s arbitrary replay rules: ‘This is stupidity’

You don’t need to get deep into the depths of sports media to find criticism of Major League Baseball and its umpires. It’s been front and center all season long, particularly from former players who will now use their platform to air some grievances that would have previously gotten them fined.

The latest iteration saw Foul Territory’s A.J. Pierzynski criticize the umpiring during Sunday’s rubber match between the Houston Astros and New York Mets. Astros second baseman Jose Altuve appeared to foul a ground ball off his foot, which was the third out in the seventh inning.

Altuve thought — and felt — the ball hit off the top of his toe and proceeded not to run to first base. One would assume it was because he clearly thought the ball should’ve been dead. But the umpires didn’t call it that way. It was a big spot with two runners in scoring position and a chance for Houston to tack on some insurance runs.

Instead, Altuve grounded out to Mets third baseman Mark Vientos. And because of that squandered chance and how the umpires ultimately interpreted what transpired, Altuve got himself ejected.

It didn’t matter as the Astros handled the Mets in 11 innings, 10-5. But New York tied the game in the eighth inning thanks to a two-run home run off the bat of Brandon Nimmo. Perhaps the game would’ve never gotten there had Altuve gotten another chance against Luis Severino.

But we’ll never know.

You can’t fault the home plate umpire for not being able to see a ball hitting off Altuve’s foot when he’s trying to focus on the strike zone. You can say what you want about umpires, but they have enough on their plates as is. You can also say that play should be reviewable and not up to the umpire’s discretion, with that specifically being a blind spot for everyone involved, excluding Altuve.

And that’s where Pierzynski’s criticism of this being “stupid” comes into play.

“Not only (did it his foot), but I told this story,” explained Pierzynski. “They have a camera. Fox used it for one World Series, where it’s a heat camera, and you can see when something hits it. It’s like black and white; it’ll turn (a different color) because of the friction. So, I know that the technology is out there. But I just don’t understand how certain things aren’t reviewable.

“Remember the foul ball that got past (Texas Rangers catcher) Jonah Heim on Opening Day? (The Chicago Cubs) scored a run, and he was arguing, ‘Hey, it was a foul ball.’ And the umpire was like, ‘Oh, no.’ I mean, there’s way to tell if it him or not. And I always go with the hitter. He yelps up right away. I always tried to fake it. I’d wait a second, but he jumped up right away.

“It takes you a second to think, ‘Oh, that was close to my foot.’ But he jumped up right away. We got to be better than this in 2024 with replay. We’ve got to come up with better rules, too, like what can be replayed and what can’t.”

While players and fans seem to be mounting pressure to resolve replay, MLB doesn’t seem too eager to change anything that led to Altuve’s ejection Sunday.

[Foul Territory, SNYtv]