Mets' Brandon Nimmo called out after terrible replay decision

Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) is tagged out by San Francisco Giants second baseman Tommy La Stella (18) during the fifth inning at Citi Field. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Mets' Brandon Nimmo called out after terrible instant-replay decision

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 8/26/21

The addition of instant replay to MLB is generally a positive for the league, but it has some downsides. What happened to Brandon Nimmo on Thursday night is a classic example of this issue.

Nimmo was batting for the New York Mets in the bottom of the fifth inning against the San Francisco Giants. He lined a ball into the left-center gap and hustled into second for a double. Nimmo beat the throw with a head-first dive and was all over the base. However, the Giants challenged the call that he was safe at second. They won the challenge and Nimmo was called out … all because he may have momentarily lifted a hand off the bag while hovering all over it.

Btm 5th – @SFGiants challenge call that Brandon Nimmo is safe at 2B; call overturned, runner is out. Powered by @Mitel. pic.twitter.com/HqYqp4zdg6

— MLB Replays (@MLBReplays) August 27, 2021

That was ridiculous. You watch that with the naked eye and there isn’t even anything to challenge; Nimmo got in there safely and without a question.

MLB replay was not added, so a little ticky-tack miniscule thing like this could be sorted. It was added so umpires could see clear and obvious big things, like if a ball is fair or foul, or whether it clears the wall for a home run or whether an umpire badly missed a call at a base. It’s not there to rob Nimmo of a double because he may have barely come off the bag for one-tenth of a second.

I have been saying for years that MLB needs to change that so that does not constitute an out on review. One Twitter user has a solution for this issue:

Once initial contact with the base is made on a slide, the runner is granted the vertical space over the base during the slide. Fixed! Over slides would be an out, but coming off the bag for 1/1000 of a second because of the force of impact wouldn’t be an out.

— K. R. Nelson (@knelson1020) August 27, 2021