MLB umpire discusses how pitch clock led to 'pigeon delay'

Vice president of the MLB Umpires Association Dan Bellino talked with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently about the myriad of rules changes to come to America's Pastime.

The conversation mainly focused on the pitch clock and Bellino said with the emphasis on speeding up the game, there have been unique circumstances that have been out of anyone's control where the timer has had to stop.

"Every day you kind of see something new. (On Tuesday), we had a pigeon on the field in Colorado. The security guy came out. He brought out a towel and he grabbed the pigeon. I had to signal to kill the clock. And it’s like, how do we classify it?" the 44-year-old said. "Any time we kill the clock, we’re supposed to give some type of explanation (to the league). Not that we’re being scrutinized on it, but we want to make sure there’s consistency among the 19 umpire crews. So it was like, what do I call this, a pigeon delay? Nobody is being charged with a timeout. Nobody is getting a violation. Security had to grab a towel and grab a pigeon."

Bellino -- who is remembered for being at the center of last year's controversial "hand massage" ejection of Madison Bumgarner -- also noted that there has been "less interaction" at the plate with the batter, catcher and umpire, due to the clock.

"The catchers and batters don’t really have time to engage in conversation. That’s the biggest change I did not expect to see," Bellino said.

The 15th-year pro has worked seven games on the field this season, according to Rosenthal's report, two of which have come behind the plate. He also spent a week "reviewing calls at the replay center in New York, something umpires do as part of their normal rotations."
Aside from the pigeon incident, Bellino said there have been other occurrences where umpires have used common sense to pause the game. He noted that "the other day" a baserunner slid into first base on a pickoff attempt and their belt broke.

"He gets up and he turns to me and says, 'Can I have time for my belt?' I’m like, 'What’s wrong with your belt?' He shows me. I said, 'Yes. Time. You can have time for that,'" Bellino said.

It seems like the managers, players and umpires are all still adjusting to the various rule changes, but they're learning together and things have gone smoothly so far.