The Philadelphia Phillies have certainly had a whole lot of grievances to air out during this week’s series against the New York Mets.
During the second inning of Wednesday’s game between the two teams at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y., play was briefly halted because of a complaint that the Phillies had about the Mets. Phillies pitcher Taijuan Walker felt Mets outfielder Starling Marte had lined up too far away from the on-deck circle before an at-bat and had encroached on Walker’s line of sight as a result.
Midway through Marte’s subsequent at-bat, Mets infielder Brett Baty also seemed to be lined up similarly far away from the on-deck circle. As a result, home plate umpire CB Bucknor briefly stopped play to tell Baty to move back towards the circle.
Here is the video.
Home plate umpire CB Bucknor moved Brett Baty back towards the on-deck circle.
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 27, 2025
Starling Marte had stood closer to home plate when he was on-deck pic.twitter.com/i2RYe1qlMZ
The MLB rulebook does not specifically mention anything about a batter being lined up too far away from the on-deck circle and potentially interfering with the line of sight of the pitcher. But an on-deck batter is not permitted to obstruct play in general, so it looks like Buckner made a judgment call there to tell Baty to move back (given the potential for both distracting the pitcher and also for getting an advantageous viewpoint of the pitcher’s delivery).
Meanwhile, this is far from the first complaint that the Phillies have had during their three-game series against the Mets. On Monday, Phillies infielder Alec Bohm complained about the microphones in center at Citi Field because they were supposedly affecting his line of vision. Then on Tuesday, Phillies pitcher Jesus Luzardo got ejected as he was leaving the game for arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire.
