TCU baseball coach explains the ejection that led to his stroll & ‘viral moment’
Kirk Saarloos’ best impression of a snail was intentional, but he had no desire to create one of those “viral” moments, which he did.
The TCU baseball coach wanted an explanation from an umpire, which he said he never received, which led to his ejection from TCU’s game at Oklahoma State on Saturday night in Stillwater.
The result was a funny scene of Saarloos retreating to TCU’s dugout, where he grabbed his leather briefcase, and then had to make the journey to the visitor’s clubhouse, which is located behind the left-field wall at O’ Brate Stadium. The video clip of Saarloos casually strolling from the TCU dugout all the way to the left-field door quickly went viral.
“I was not going to walk through the stands,” Saarloos said Monday morning in a phone interview. “Oklahoma State has one of the best facilities in the country, and there really is only one way I could go. The same thing happened when I used to play for the A’s minor league team in Sacramento.
“I wasn’t going to be in any hurry. I wasn’t going to jog over there.”
This required Saarloos to walk directly through the infield, and the outfield, before he was no longer on the playing surface. All told, this walk lasted nearly 90 seconds, the perfect opportunity for some Oklahoma State fans to “cheer” him on.
“They loved it,” he said. “One kid flipped me off. It was fine with me.”
The scene was amusing, but the moment illustrated a flaw in the Big 12’s replay system, and the never-ending problem of umpires who operate with a veil of protection that reeks of a lack of accountability.
On Saturday night, TCU and Oklahoma State were tied 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning. OSU’s Alex Conover’s one-out single advanced base runner Danny Wallace, who was called out at third base.
The play was reviewed on-site, and the call was overturned. That’s when Saarloos walked out of the dugout looking for an explanation from an umpire; he didn’t see anything that happened that he felt warranted overturning the call.
“You see the replay, and I know for fact there isn’t some souped-up, zoomed-in view. There is nothing to overturn the call. Nothing,” Saarloos said. “I was going to ask the home plate umpire, ‘What angle [of the replay], and who made the call?’ And he threw me out for asking that.
“At that point, I’m thinking I didn’t get the answer from him, so I was going to ask the two guys who were back there video-ing. And they don’t say anything. They just walked away. It’s one of the dumber rules in my opinion. Just give me some context.”
The umpire warned Saarloos that if he continued, he would be ejected. Saarloos persisted on hearing an answer, a pursuit that didn’t go well. After Saarloos continued to ask for an answer, one of the umpires held up two fingers, which meant a two-game suspension.
The intent is an NCAA rule designed to discourage coaches from talking to umpires, thereby making the game longer.
Oklahoma State ended up scoring three runs in the inning, and won 9-2. OSU swept TCU in the three-game series, two of which were one-run outcomes.
Saarloos was suspended from TCU’s game against Oklahoma State in the series finale on Sunday, and will miss the home series opener on Friday night against Utah.
The exchange illustrates the problem that can arise from the “fail-safe” that is instant replay, especially in the Big 12.
This system, unlike the SEC, or the ACC, is behind in terms of transparency, or advanced technology.
The ACC shows on the big screen at the stadiums the umpires in the video room looking at the replays; everyone sees what they see. The ACC has done it for its football telecasts, including the audio between the officials, and it’s a great addition for fans, coaches and players.
“You either need to do that, or send the [replay] somewhere where there is a central hub; take the umpires who are in the middle of the game out of the equation,” Saarloos said, referring to replay systems that are more aligned with the NFL, NHL, et al.
“They can look at every feed, take the emotion out of it, and make the correct call. There is too much on the line for this stuff to happen.”
This is similar to what the SEC does.
“The SEC has a $1 million camera setup in every stadium, which is the same thing that every big league stadium has; they can zoom in on anything that happens,” Saarloos said. “So if that system is a 10, what we use is a four.”
The Big 12’s replay system relies on TV production teams that have no universal standard regarding technology, and are often run by students. Some stadiums have better equipment, and better angles, than others.
Big 12 baseball coaches have lobbied for a centralized location where officials could review the replays; the league doesn’t want the expense.
Saarloos did not sound optimistic that any of this will change anytime soon, or ever.
And should he be ejected again in the future, he will neither be in any hurry to leave the field, nor create another viral moment.
