Now that many Umpire Fantasy observers have speculated about the circumstances surrounding Ejections: Hunter Wendelstedt (1, 2), we turn to the man in the middle himself. Hunter Wendelstedt recently sat down with MLB Network Radio to discuss the incident in question, wherein he ejected Angels pitcher Jered Weaver and Manager Mike Scioscia for throwing at Tigers batter Alex Avila last week in an apparent response to what Weaver (and many UEFL'ers, too) perceived as inappropriate posturing on the part of Carlos Guillen after Guillen hit a home run off Weaver. Wendelstedt had warned both teams immediately following the Guillen HR, but Weaver was ejected for throwing at the head of Avila on the very next pitch.
Click here to listen to Hunter's take. He speaks about growing and maturing on the baseball field, as it relates to both players (Weaver) and umpires (himself), and the unwritten rules of the game.
I'm not a fan of Hunter at all, but I will give him credit for recognizing a potentially bad situation and being proactive with his actions instead of reactive. Putting out the warning when he did was a good decision and gave him more credibility to toss Weaver.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubts Weaver threw at Avila on purpose and deserved to get ejected. Guillen was way out of line too, but unfortunately his actions will probably go unpunished unless the Angels play the Tigers again. In that case I guarantee he'll get one in the ear hole from someone.
Do I think a little higher of Hunter now? Yeah, a little bit, but not a lot. He got into the bigs by riding his father's coattails and hasn't shown to be deserving of the hire. At least in my opinion.
He made a good call, good for him. But i don't think it was all that hard a call to make.
Hunter is working HP tonight and just threw out Fredi Gonzalez over a ball/strike call.
ReplyDeleteWhat timing, it's almost as if you sensed he was winding up for another toss.
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