Anthony Rendon Responds To Ejection With Facts And Logic

Nationals slugger Anthony Rendon has previously demonstrated his willingness to call out an MLB umpire over a bad call. When Marty Foster ejected Rendon for no good reason back in 2018, he lamented how there’s “no accountability” for umpires whose mistakes can be clearly seen from overhead and replay angles. After last night’s game against the Brewers, Rendon was at it again.

In the top of the seventh inning, Rendon was called out on strikes by home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor. Rendon immediately argued the call, and stuck his bat out at the spot where the ball had missed the plate. Bucknor, who apparently felt that he’d been shown up, sent Rendon packing:

Rendon addressed the call with reporters after the game, but this time he let pictures speak louder than words:

Bucknor certainly showed some oversensitivity when he ejected Rendon, but Rendon’s getting close to taking his running critique of umpiring to ridiculous lengths. Yes, that third strike was a little bit out of the zone, but it didn’t miss by much. It was exactly the kind of pitch that gets called a strike a half-dozen times throughout the course of a single game. Rendon can be as mad as he wants, but if he’s going to try and embarrass an umpire with a postgame mic-drop, he should wait for a missed call that’s actually worth getting worked up over.