Jazz Chisholm Jr. Runs Risk of Potentially Historic Punishment After Viral Ejection

Chisholm likely faces a fine between the ejection itself and the X post. However, it’s not unrealistic to believe Major League Baseball could lay down the hammer and fine Chisholm a record-setting amount for his conduct.

Chisholm violated MLB rules for questioning “the impartiality of or otherwise [denigrating] a Major League umpire.” An MLB spokesperson told The Athletic that the league is already looking into the incident.

What could a potential fine look like here? Major League Baseball fined then-Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler $10,000 in August 2017 after he publicly criticized umpire Angel Hernandez, saying the much-maligned ump “needs to find another job.”

According to ESPN, Kinsler also said Hernandez is a bad umpire who is “messing with baseball games, blatantly.” Whether or not that’s worse than criticizing an umpire to over 75,000 X followers is up for debate.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, now the Yankees’ bench coach, said the $10,000 fine was the biggest he’d ever seen the league hand down. That’s a significant observation, considering that Ausmus played 18 seasons.

“I don’t care,” Chisholm Jr. told reporters about a potential punishment. “I did what I did.”

Chisholm’s most significant problem is publicly criticizing the umpire on social media. There’s no possibility of a quote being misconstrued, nor was this a simple outraged comment during a postgame media scrum.

Chisholm said what he said, both on X and to reporters. Don’t be surprised if Major League Baseball and the Umpires Association fire back in the coming days.