O’s backstop doubles as … home-plate ump?
BRADENTON, Fla. — The Orioles and Pirates performed just a little additional Grapefruit League baseball on Tuesday afternoon — with O’s non-roster catcher Maverick Handley taking part in the position of home-plate umpire.
If you’re questioning why Handley was dealing with the uncommon catcher/umpire double-duty, effectively, be a part of the group of followers at LECOM Park who already had been submitting out of the ballpark once they realized the 2 groups hadn’t left the sphere on the conclusion of the exhibition recreation.
Pittsburgh left-hander Cam Alldred had gotten Baltimore’s Josh Lester to floor out to second base for the ultimate out of the highest of the ninth inning. The Pirates had a 7-4 lead so, by baseball guidelines, the sport was over, proper? No want for the house workforce to bat within the backside of the body whereas main.
Well, Orioles supervisor Brandon Hyde needed non-roster right-hander Ofreidy Gómez to get his scheduled work in in opposition to stay hitters. So within the eighth, Hyde and Bucs supervisor Derek Shelton agreed the groups would play an additional half-inning to ensure that that to occur.
With the sport already performed to a end, the umpiring crew was not underneath an obligation to proceed to the underside of the ninth. They left — and Handley, behind the plate for Baltimore to catch Gómez, acquired elevated duty because the groups determined to carry a postgame scrimmage for the equal of a half-inning.
It’s frequent for catchers to name balls and strikes in occasional intrasquad video games throughout camp. That’s what transpired Tuesday, albeit this time with an viewers of followers who realized they might keep to look at a bit extra baseball.
“A little backfield action,” Hyde mentioned.
Gómez labored a scoreless body, pitching round a one-out single, even when it didn’t present up within the field rating. Handley had some enjoyable with it, maybe giving himself a little bit of a beneficiant strike name at one level. And when the “inning” was over, so was the day’s motion — for actual this time.
