Rocco Baldelli vs. the Umps is quickly becoming MLB’s best rivalry in 2022.
Just a few weeks after a questionable home-plate call doomed the Twins, the Minnesota manager got himself thrown out of the game Tuesday for a weird technicality that he probably shouldn’t have been thrown out for.
In the fifth inning of the Astros-Twins matchup, Minnesota pitcher Aaron Sanchez grazed Jose Altuve with a pitch, leading to a benches-clearing incident. Baldelli, who made his way onto the field to try and clear up the dust-up, was apparently charged with a mound visit.
Soon after, Sanchez would walk Yuli Gurriel, and pitching coach Pete Maki would head to the mound for the supposed second visit of the inning.
Words were exchanged between Jose Altuve and Aaron Sanchez after Altuve was hit by a pitch
The coaches went out to calm Sanchez and the umpires ruled it a mound visit, forcing them to remove him from the game and Rocco Baldelli was HEATED pic.twitter.com/i0wzkI1WMX
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 24, 2022
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MLB’s mound-visit rules deem that a pitcher must be removed from the game after two mound visits in the same inning. With the umpires charging Baldelli with a questionable visit during the altercation, the Maki mound visit counted as the second, meaning Sanchez had to leave the game.
It’s unclear whether or not Baldelli actually stepped foot on the mound during the bench-clearing incident, which is in the letter of the mound-visit law, as well.
The MLB rulebook is pretty specific when it comes to mound visits, but the question of whether a manager or coach entering the field during an incident like Tuesday’s is unclear. This is what the book says:
For purposes of this Rule 5.10(m), a manager or coach trip to the mound to meet with the pitcher shall constitute a visit. A player leaving his position to confer with the pitcher, including a pitcher leaving the mound to confer with another player, shall also constitute a visit, regardless of where the visit occurs or the length of the visit. Visits by a manager, coach or player to join a mound visit Rule 5.10(l) to 5.10(m)(2) 57 already in progress shall not constitute an independent visit.
Bench-clearing incidents are also not on the list of accepted actions that don’t constitute as mound visits.
Baldelli was tossed after debating the removal of Sanchez, with no one warming in the Twins’ bullpen. The lengthy conversation, though, would allow new Twins pitcher Cole Sands to get ready. Consider it a wash.
“On the way back to the dugout, I just walked over to [Sanchez] and said, ‘Are you fine?’ He said yes. I walked away. Pretty straightforward,” Baldelli told reporters after the game. “And later, we were alerted that a mound visit had been given to me during a bench-clearing incident. I didn’t agree with it.”
The Twins manager will certainly be more versed on MLB’s mound visit rules after the incident. Even if what happened on Tuesday was a mound of — well, you get the idea.
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