TRENTON — On the first day that minor league baseball’s new rules to speed up the game went into full effect this season, a home-plate umpire ejected the manager of the Class AA Trenton Thunder for arguing.
And what was he arguing about? The new rules, of course, and more specifically, the one that requires the leadoff batter in each half of an inning to be in the batter’s box with at least five seconds remaining in the time allotted for the break. The umpire, Eric Gillam, ruled that a Trenton batter, Mason Williams, had not abided by the five-second rule and called a strike.