Taylor Walls breaks silence after bizarre helmet tap ejection vs Astros

Taylor Walls was at the center of a bizarre and unexpected ejection during Game 3 of the Rays’ series against the Houston Astros. After taking a called strike he didn’t agree with, Walls voiced his frustration to home plate umpire Nic Lentz. As he stepped out of the box and adjusted his helmet, he briefly tapped it — a move that seemed to upset the umpire, who immediately ejected him from the game.

“That’s what he told me. ‘You’re not going to do that. You’re not going to tap your helmet,’” Walls said after the game. “And so at that point, like, I know that they think that’s disrespectful. I watched the video, and I could see where he may have thought that.”

Tapping the helmet is not illegal in the MLB, but it has been used in Minor League seasons and during Spring Training as a way for players to challenge a call. Since challenges by players are not permitted in the majors, the umpire may have interpreted Walls’ gesture as a challenge — or as an act of disrespect.

Walls says it wasn’t intentional

After the game, Walls spoke at length about the incident, expressing his frustration and disappointment over the way it played out. He made it clear that if he did tap his helmet, it wasn’t aimed at showing up the umpire.

“I think, like, the context clues around it — I’m looking at him and my body language is saying, like, ‘Dude, I didn’t hear what you’re saying.’ I didn’t say anything to him leading up to this. If I’m gonna tap my helmet, I’m not gonna do it while I’m looking at you, asking you a question, trying to understand what you’re telling me,” Walls explained.

“I just remember going to get into the box, kind of adjusting my helmet, and then hearing him mouthing something. I think I said, ‘Huh? What’d you say? I can’t hear you.’ And at that point — I have no recollection of it, but after seeing the video, it looks like I tapped my helmet. But it was totally unintentional, something I was not consciously aware of at all.”

A possible apology?

Walls also said he’d be willing to apologize to Lentz if the umpire genuinely believed the gesture was meant as a sign of disrespect during the game.

“I don’t really remember any time that I’ve been thrown out of a game since I’ve played baseball. I kind of want to apologize to him, if that’s what he thought that I did,” Walls said. “But at the same time, like, dude … after missing a call, you have to kind of understand the situation. You can’t just toss me for something [when] you’re not totally sure that I was doing it intentionally to disrespect him.”