Former Pirates manager Derek Shelton at center of embarrassing ABS ejection controversy

For Pittsburgh Pirates fans who have tried to put the Derek Shelton era out of their minds forever, they might be surprised to learn how quickly he bounced back, accepting a job as the tank commander (um, manager?) of the Minnesota Twins over the offseason. No one would have thought that he would bounce back that quickly, given how much better Pittsburgh played as soon as Don Kelly took the reins.

But yes, Shelton is yet again an MLB manager, and in a March 29 matchup against the Baltimore Orioles, the former Pirates skipper made waves after getting tossed arguing an ABS call — which is essentially the same as debating with an all-knowing, virtual robot.

The pitch in question came in a 2-2 count in the ninth inning with Orioles closer Ryan Helsley on the mound and the Twins' Josh Bell at the plate, and was confirmed to be strike three. It seems crazy, and it kind of was, but there was some nuance to Shelton's protest.

Former Pirates manager Derek Shelton's ABS-related ejection was ridiculous, but he wasn't arguing with the robot

Shelton wasn't arguing the result per se, but rather the process that brought it on. Under the rules, a batter, pitcher, or catcher must challenge the umpire's call immediately after it has been made and without assistance from other players, coaches, or anyone in the dugout.

The timing of the challenge was what Shelton took umbrage with. In a rarity, as most teams don't want their pitchers challenging and prefer that catchers do it, thanks to their vantage point, Helsley was the one who initiated the review.

Here's where we get into semantics. "Immediately" is not something that's defined further, so we don't know if a few-second delay is truly enough of a time period to say that the dispute was not raised right away.

After delivering the pitch, Helsley fell off the mound to the first base side and took a step or two to regain his balance before reaching up to tap his head. He actually tapped his head twice, as if maybe he didn't think the umpire saw his first indication that he'd like to challenge.

The umpire then granted his challenge, and the rest is history. It's tough to say if the delay from that extra step after his delivery constitutes not challenging immediately, but obviously, if the pitcher can initiate a challenge, he probably needs to be able to finish his follow-through first.

It's a tough call, but at the end of the day, the system ensured the pitch was called correctly as it was designed to do, making the point of Shelton's protest seem sort of asinine. Whatever the case, he now has the dubious distinction of being the first person to be ejected from a game for arguing with a system that is infallible. Crazy stuff, indeed.