Monday, March 3, 2014

Challenge: 3 Umpire Calls Upheld on 1st Replay Decisions

Umpire Fieldin Culbreth's call of safe was challenged and upheld after instant replay review, marking the first ever instant replay challenge in MLB history. Accompanying Culbreth on this debut day of Spring Training expanded instant replay were umpires Will Little and Bill Miller.

At present and in the future, instant replay challenges (as in S-01 and S-03) and umpire crew chief-initiated reviews (such as S-02) will be available in sortable list format via the UEFL Portal's Instant Replays page.

Grapefruit replay affirmed two umpire calls.
Replay S-01: With two out and one on in the bottom of the 6th inning of Monday's Blue Jays-Twins game, Blue Jays batter Chris Rahl hit a grounder off Twins pitcher Kyle Drabek to shortstop Munenori Kawasaki, who threw high to first baseman Jared Goedert, who attempted to stretch and keep his foot on the first base bag while catching the ball. Initially ruled safe (pulled foot) by 1B Umpire Culbreth, the play was challenged, reviewed and stood as called, an error charged to Kawasaki for the pulled foot. At the time of the replay, the Twins were leading, 8-2.
Video: Call upheld; Rahl ruled safe after replay review (MIN) / Replay official: Brian O'Nora.

Replay S-02: With two out in the 8th inning of the Blue Jays-Twins game, 1B Umpire Will Little ruled Twins batter-runner Doug Bernier safe at first base. Replays confirm Bernier beat Blue Jays shortstop Kevin Nolan's throw and Little's call was upheld. At the time of that review, the Twins were leading, 12-2. The Twins ultimately won the contest, 12-2.
Video: Call upheld; Bernier is safe at first (MIN) / Replay official: Brian O'Nora.
In Arizona, replay likewise upheld the initial call.

Replay S-03: With one out and one on in the top of the 2nd inning of the Angels-Diamondbacks game in Arizona, 2B Umpire Bill Miller ruled Angels baserunner Luis Jimenez out at second base. Replays indicate D'Backs second baseman Aaron Hill successfully tagged Jimenez off the base and Miller's call was accordingly upheld. At the time of the replay, the contest was tied, 0-0.
Video: Call upheld; Jimenez ruled out on stolen base attempt (LAA) Replay official: Adam Hamari.

These are the 1st, 2nd & 3rd instant replay reviews in MLB history.
This is Fieldin Culbreth (25)'s 1st instant replay challenge of Spring Training.
This is Will Little (93)'s 1st instant replay challenge of Spring Training.
This is Bill Miller (26)'s 1st instant replay challenge of Spring Training.

Umpires (TOR-MIN): HP: Bob Davidson. 1B: Brian O'Nora. 2B: Fieldin Culbreth. 3B: Will Little.
Umpires (LAA-ARI): HP: Allen Bailey. 1B: Ted Barrett. 2B: Adam Hamari. 3B: Bill Miller.

17 comments :

Lindsay said...

I'm sure with Balkin' Bob behind the plate they could have found a better challenge...

Lindsay said...

At the time of the play, Culbreth had rotated over to 1st.

Lindsay said...

Is there going to be video of the plays?

Lindsay said...

Phot & videos when I get home.

Lindsay said...

http://m.mlb.com/video/v31426757/laaari-expanded-replay-shows-jimenez-out-at-second
Atrocious use of replay when my grandmother could have seen this call should have been reversed. You can bet this will be much more under the microscope once the regular season begins. But if they want to use "undisputable" as way to protect umpires this will be an embarrassment. But this is an overreaction after only seeing one replay review!

Lindsay said...

Here is the Cubby Play.. and many of you know how much I love him but this is a missed call also NOT fixed by replay.... It's not as cut and dried without a field level angle, however this is a curious start to the beginning of replay.

Lindsay said...

http://m.mlb.com/video/v31427407/tormin-replay-confirms-bernier-safe-at-first-base/?query=replay
Here is the Wil Little play.... This play is always tough... the dreaded 3 sounder...... Made even more difficult in the 8th inning of a blowout Sping Game. This play was IMO deservedly upheld as correct on the field. The wasn't a conclusive angle.
This could be the most exciting spring in history.

Lindsay said...

I was also surprised this call was not overrturned. I understand there are less camera angles in Spring Training but this seemed obvious Jiminez was safe. Luckily it was only spring training but they need to be able to get these calls right. FWIW I disagree with you on the Culbreth call, I do not think there was enough evidence to overrturn it as I could not tell if F3's foot came down before the batter-runner.

Lindsay said...

Unless I'm not understanding the whole "after the 7th inning" aspect of things, this is going to be an absolute mess. On every even remotely close call one manager is going to come out and put pressure on the umpires to have the crew chief take a look, the way John Gibbons did here on play number two. I'm confused as to why they didn't just keep it as the "one challenge, another if you were right" like they do things in innings one through six. If this is how the system is going to work it practically demands that a manager come out on anything within a step or two. Can someone correct me please, if my impressions are incorrect?

Lindsay said...

Perhaps it will get better as they become more experienced with the new system, but these were not quickly rendered decisions on the replays. The Culbreth play took almost two minutes.

Lindsay said...

I agree w/ tmac...there wasn't an angle that could 100% reverse the call. (At least the angles we were given)

Lindsay said...

I think what they should do is while they're watching the game from the van, review all close plays....so when the umpires call, the decision has already been made. That will make it much, much faster.

Lindsay said...

After watching these first few replays I think ejections are going to be way up this year.

Lindsay said...

Why do you say that?

Lindsay said...

Every time the umpire refuses to look at a replay there is a potential ejection. Every time a manager thinks the umpire still got it wrong after replay that's probably going to be a very quick ejection. Every time an umpire gets a call wrong before the 7th inning and the manger doe not have his challenge he could argue that and get ejected. Not to mention all of the balls and strikes ejections that I think will be way up because that is pretty much the only thing left to argue without replay. With all that said I could be wrong. Its mostly just my educated guess. I just hope a manger doesn't win a protest because an umpire messes up a replay rule. It still seems pretty confusing to me.

Lindsay said...

Huh never thought of that. Thanks thats actually a pretty good explanation.

Lindsay said...

I kind of agree with all of this. And I think it ties into my other comment, that every single play, from the seventh inning on, that is even slightly close, is going to have one of the managers asking them to take a second look. You can just hear them saying "don't you want to be 100%sure?"

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