Youth-Baseball Umpire In Missouri Claims Pitcher, Catcher Conspired To Hit Him With A Pitch

In the fifth-inning of a big 18-and-under Mac-N-Seitz Midwest Championships and Showcase baseball game, home plate umpire Kyle Reynolds detected shenanigans were afoot. They were the sort of shenanigans in which a catcher allegedly jumps out of the way of a pitch so it strikes the umpire behind him, and the brand of hijinks that results in reports filed with the Lee's Summit (Mo.) PD.

The kids and their coach deny any such accusation, but here's what Reynolds had to say about it anyway:

After tossing the ball back to the pitcher, the catcher turns his head to the left, toward the third-base dugout and the head coach, who is sitting on a bucket outside the dugout. The catcher then briefly pulls up his mask, spits and again looks over to his left. On the next pitch, the catcher shifts to his right knee just before the ball reaches home plate and strikes Reynolds' left wrist.

"Right as the pitcher releases the ball, the catcher literally jumps to the right and the ball comes inside and caught me on the hand," Reynolds said. "It wasn't an attempt to make a baseball play. It wasn't like even if he called an outside pitch. … I don't think he would have caught it."

The catcher maintains that he and the pitcher got mixed up on their signals. ...

"I never had that happen before," Reynolds said. "I've never been on a field where that's happened to someone else. That's just so far out of the line. To be honest, driving home, it almost made me sick (that) it happened in front of this many people. It's audacious. That's what made me fear for my safety."

Normal-speed footage of the pitch starts at 0:45 of the video; super slo-mo commences 20 seconds later.

Lee's Summit umpire says players meant to hurt him [Kansas City Star]

(H/T Bob's Blitz)