MLB Ejection 127 - Tom Hanahan (2; Matt Quatraro)

2B Umpire Tom Hanahan ejected Royals manager Matt Quatraro (obstruction no-call on Colson Montgomery; QOCN) in the bottom of the 5th inning of the #WhiteSox-#Royals game. With none out and none on, during Mike Yastrzemski's at-bat, Royals baserunner R1 Kyle Isbel attempted to steal second base, thrown out by catcher Edgar Quero to shortstop Montgomery. Replays indicate that prior to receiving the throw, Montgomery obstructed baserunner Isbel, the call was incorrect.* At the time of the ejection, the Royals were leading, 2-1. The Royals ultimately won the contest, 3-1.

This is Tom Hanahan (69)'s 2nd ejection of 2025.

*Official Baseball Rules Definition: "OBSTRUCTION is the act of a fielder who, while not in possession of the ball and not in the act of fielding the ball, impedes the progress of any runner."

This is the 127th ejection report of the 2025 MLB regular season.

This is the 68th manager ejection of 2025. Ejection Tally: 68 Managers, 21 Coaches, 38 Players.

This is Kansas City's 3rd ejection of 2025, 2nd in the AL Central (MIN 6; CWS 4; KC 3; DET 2; CLE 0).

This is Matt Quatraro's 2nd ejection of 2025, 1st since May 19 (Jordan Baker; QOC = Y [Obstruction]).

This is Tom Hanahan's 2nd ejection of 2025, 1st since June 1 (Tyler Soderstrom; QOC = Y [Balls/Strikes]).

Box: Chicago White Sox vs Kansas City Royals, 8/15/25 | Video as follows:

MLB Ejection 057 - Tom Hanahan (1; Tyler Soderstrom)

HP Umpire Tom Hanahan ejected Athletics 1B Tyler Soderstrom (strike three call; QOCY) in the top of the 3rd inning of the #Athletics-#BlueJays game. With one out and one on, A's batter Soderstrom took a 3-2 splitter from Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman for a called third strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located over the heart of home plate and above the hollow of the knee (px -0.06, pz 1.57 [sz_bot 1.52 / RAD 1.40]), the call was correct.* At the time of the ejection, the Athletics were leading, 1-0. The Blue Jays ultimately won the contest, 8-4.

 

This is Tom Hanahan (69)'s 1st ejection of 2025.

*This pitch was located 3.00 vertical inches from being deemed incorrect.

This is the 57th ejection report of the 2025 MLB regular season.

This is the 16th player ejection of 2025. Ejection Tally: 30 Managers, 11 Coaches, 16 Players.

This is Oakland's 2nd ejection of 2025, 1st in the AL West (OAK, SEA, TEX 2; HOU, LAA 1).

This is Tyler Soderstrom's first career MLB ejection.

This is Tom Hanahan's 1st ejection since June 12, 2024 (Mark Kotsay; QOC = Y [Balls/Strikes]).

Wrap: Whatever City Athletics vs Toronto Blue Jays, 6/1/25 | Video as follows:

MLB Ejection 075 - Tom Hanahan (1; Mark Kotsay)

HP Umpire Tom Hanahan ejected Athletics manager Mark Kotsay (strike two call to JJ Bleday; QOCY) in the top of the 9th inning of the #Athletics-#Padres game. With none out and none on, A's batter Bleday took a 0-1 sinker from Padres pitcher Robert Suarez for a called second strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located over the inner edge of home plate and at the hollow of the knee (px 0.65, pz 1.94 [sz_bot 1.55]), the call was correct.* At the time of the ejection, the game was tied, 4-4. The Padres ultimately won the contest, 5-4.

This is Tom Hanahan (69)'s 1st ejection of 2024.

*UEFL Rule 6-2-b-1 (Kulpa Rule): |0| ≤ STRIKE < |.748| ≤ BORDERLINE ≤ |.914| < BALL.

This pitch was located 3.17 horizontal inches from being deemed incorrect.

This is the 75th ejection of the 2024 MLB regular season.

This is the 35th manager ejection of 2024. Ejection Tally: 35 Managers, 12 Coaches, 28 Players.

This is Oakland's 4th ejection of 2024, T-1st in the AL West (OAK 4; HOU, SEA, TEX 3; LAA 1).

This is Mark Kotsay's 2nd ejection of 2024, 1st since June 1 (James Hoye; QOC = Y [Balls/Strikes]).

This is Tom Hanahan's first career MLB ejection.

Wrap: Oakland Athletics vs San Diego Padres, 6/12/24 | Video as follows:

A's-Rangers Double Play - Infield Fly or Ordinary Effort?

Oakland turned an inning-ending double play against Texas when Rangers batter Jared Walsh's soft infield pop fly evaded diving A's second baseman Zack Gelof near the pitcher's mound, with 2B Umpire Tom Hanahan initially appearing to signal an infield fly, before declaring the batter safe, electing not to invoke the infield fly rule because none of the Athletics infielders could have caught the batted ball with ordinary effort.

With one out and runners on first and second base in the bottom of the 7th inning, Walsh's quasi-fly ball initially attracted speculation that the infield fly rule would be invoked, but as second baseman Gelof slid in an unsuccessful attempt to catch the batted ball, Oakland recovered and turned the inning-ending double play when umpires ruled the infield fly rule did not apply.

Gelof's slide may have tipped the scales against ruling this play an infield fly, as pitcher Austin Adams would have had to range backwards, off the mound to field the ball and Gelof was the other closest infielder, meaning that according to the umpire, no infielder was in a place where this ball could have been caught with ordinary effort.

This might be the infield fly counterweight to LF Umpire Sam Holbrook's infamous postseason infield fly call in Atlanta, when the umpire ruled that a shortstop deep into left field could have caught a fly ball with ordinary effort because he was camped under the ball before suddenly vacating that position.

Although formally termed an "infield fly" the definition and rule may more accurately be deemed the "infielder fly rule."

An infield fly is defined as "a fair fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out," and the infield fly rule results in the batter being declared automatically out while the ball itself remains live.

When Walsh's batted ball fell to the ground and the infield fly rule was not invoked, that forced both preceding baserunners R1 and R2 to advance, allowing pitcher Adams to turn a double play when both R1 Adolis García and R1 Jonah Heim didn't advance.

Video as follows:

Perdomo Safe From a Base Path Call Out in Arizona

As Orioles SS Gunnar Henderson fielded a 5th inning infield ground ball of the bat of Arizona's Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks baserunner R1 Geraldo Perdomo veered onto the grass to try and avoid Henderson's eventual tag, ruled safe by 2B Umpire Tom Hanahan and upheld via Replay Review after an Orioles challenge by manager Brandon Hyde.

Perdomo later scored on Cedric Mullins' RBI single off of Baltimore pitcher Jack Flaherty.

With the knowledge that the only reviewable aspect of this play pertained to the physical tag attempt, we answer your questions regarding the other, unreviewable part—Hanahan's out of the base path no call (safe) on Perdomo as the runner attempted to evade the fielder.

Official Baseball Rule 5.09(b)(1) describes the condition upon which a runner is out for a base path violation: "Official Baseball Rule 5.09(b)(1): "Any runner is out when they run more than three feet away from their base path to avoid being tagged unless their action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner’s base path is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base they are attempting to reach safely."

As we have discussed in prior videos, a runner establishes their own base path, which is separate and distinct from a baseline (defined as a direct line between consecutive bases). Furthermore, a runner's base path is not established until the tag attempt occurs (begins) and the runner is restricted by the three-foot provision in OBR 5.09(b)(1) until the runner arrives at the next (or previous) base, the fielder loses possession of the ball (e.g., by throwing it or dropping it), or the fielder stops the tag attempt (e.g., to play on another runner).

Replays indicate baserunner R1 Perdomo, coincidentally, appeared to be positioned within the baseline as F6 Henderson fielded the baseball and ran more than three feet away to avoid the fielder's tag, which satisfies the criteria for an out of the base path call.

Video as follows: