In his 1,222nd Major League game, Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson received his first ever ejection. He was ejected for the crime of asking what he had done wrong to be called out. And apparently “nothing” is too hard of an answer to give.

In the sixth inning of the Braves’s 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates last night, Olson was at the plate, and hit a pop-up so high that it may have come down with snow on it. As high as it went, the ball travelled little in any other direction, and was easily playable for Pirates catcher Henry Davis in foul territory. Davis, however, jeffed the catch, which should have given Olson a reprieve.

Unfortunately, Major League umpires are not only wont to seeing things that are not there, but stubbornly defending their bad eyesight to the hilt. Olson was called out on the play by home plate umpire Brock Ballou, despite replays clearly showing all he did was stand there. To Ballou’s eye, it would appear that there had to be a reason for Davis to drop such a catchable ball – and so a reason was found.

Olson Not Sure What He Did Wrong

Olson was heated, but managed to initially survive being ejected, mostly because Braves manager Brian Snitker fell on his sword. Snitker flew out of the dugout and got in the umpire’s way (doing the exact thing Ballou apparently thought Olson did to Davis). As intended, Snitker was ejected, and Olson was led away – however, Olson continued the argument into the dugout, and was also ejected after the inning.

Olson had every right to be upset, as the replay quite clearly showed he did not get in Davis’s way. There was contact between the two, but Davis made it, in his haste to get around Olson.

The MLB’s own official rules state the following:

6.03 Batter Illegal Action
(a) A batter is out for illegal action when:

[…] (3)  He interferes with the catcher’s fielding or throwing by stepping out of the batter’s box or making any other movement that hinders the catcher’s play at home base.

(4)  He throws his bat into fair or foul territory and hits a catcher (including the catcher’s glove) and the catcher was attempting to catch a pitch with a runner(s) on base and/or the pitch was a third strike.

Crew chief Mark Wegner would later explain the reasoning that Olson took a few steps while looking up at the pop-up after his swing. This is technically true, but ignores the fact that he only did so after Davis had passed him – and also that Davis had bumped Olson to do so.

In Ballou’s judgement, it would appear that “stepping out of the batter’s box or making any other movement that hinders the catcher’s play at home base” includes “standing still in the right place”. If he is not supposed to stand still, what is he supposed to do?