Jesse Winker was given an automatic strike for not being in the batter's box even though Ryan Thompson was not on the mound He struck out and was ejected after the at-bat

Are umpires specially bad this year?

How are people still so confused about this? Be ready to hit regardless of what the pitcher is doing. Simple.

@TalkinBaseball_ Lmao ump leaning in and put the Hogan hand to his ear before tossing him is amazing

It looks stupid and you can argue the validity of the rules all you want, but as it is written, the rule is be ready at 8 secs. It doesn't say anything anywhere about the pitcher. Just be ready at 8 secs. Not that hard.

The batter is subject to his end of the clock rule, the pitcher to his. Both were under the clock at the time.

Truly in the spirit of these rule changes

Batter has one job. Be ready at 8 seconds. Don't worry about the pitcher. Don't worry about the catcher. Don't worry about the umpire. Just be ready. How hard is that?

It's time for teams to get loudy and bitchy to MLB office about the state of umpiring. And if they fine then, just refuse to pay. What's MLB gonna do?

Pitcher not even on the mound should be a ball. Like wtf?

@TalkinBaseball_ Such a calm way to eject someone