Legend, Josh Donaldson Argues w/Ump; Hits Dinger; Kicks Dirt on Plate; Gets Tossed

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Sep 18, 2020

Is there at team in Major League Baseball that is more must-watch than the Minnesota Twins? The answer to that question, is “no”. Every night there are fireworks and many nights there are firsts. Today, Josh Donaldson brought both.

On a 2-0 count in the top of the 6th inning, Josh Donaldson gets upset about strike that he checks his swing at. You can see him ask, “was it on the swing or called?” He didn’t like the answer, either way, and was still arguing as he stepped back into the box to take a 2-1 pitch. At that moment, Rocco Baldelli stepped out of the dugout to talk to the umpire. Donaldson got some time to gather his senses, play resumed… and then this happened.

Josh Donaldson did not appreciate a strike call, 2 pitches later he hit a HR and got ejected crossing home plate pic.twitter.com/CitbuyMGZa
— Stu Motown #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) September 17, 2020

Apparently, Donaldson took issue with the umpire’s strike zone from earlier in the game and it carried over to this at-bat. I love how Donaldson had to go back and kick more dirt on home plate, only because he was worried he had missed it when kicking dirt on it the first time.

Leadership

Call Donaldson a poor sport or whatever you want. In reality, this is a leader. The Minnesota Twins have been complaining about the strike zones of umpires for weeks now and it seems to be progressively getting worse. This is Josh Donaldson airing out the frustration in all of his teammates.

They now feel less anger toward the umps, because Josh Donaldson took his leadership foot and kicked dirt all over the umpire’s shitty plate/strike zone. I love angry Josh Donaldson almost as much as I like smoking hot Byron Buxton.

This is why Josh Donaldson had a problem today. Dan Bellino has been a literal garbage can calling strikes.

The called strike earlier in the AB was terrible too. pic.twitter.com/up22HFo4Q8
— Ted (@tlschwerz) September 17, 2020