Twins Manager Derek Shelton Becomes MLB’s 1st ABS Ejection After Arguing Ryan Helsley’s Challenge Was “Too Late”

Major League Baseball brought in the automated ball strike system to reduce ball and strike drama. It took three games for the new system to deliver the season’s first ejection that wasn’t about whether a pitch was a ball or a strike, but when a player is allowed to ask the robot to decide.

Minnesota Twins manager Derek Shelton was ejected in the ninth inning of an 8–6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, March 29, becoming the first MLB manager tossed in a dispute tied to the strike zone challenge system. Shelton’s argument wasn’t about the pitch location, replays showed it nicked the outside corner, but about whether Orioles closer Ryan Helsley initiated his challenge quickly enough.

The moment came with one on and one out and Baltimore leading by two. On a full count pitch to Josh Bell, the call on the field was ball four. Helsley signaled for a challenge by tapping his head, the pitch was reviewed, and the decision was overturned to a called third strike. Bell was out, turning what would have been a critical late-inning baserunner into the second out instead.

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Shelton immediately came out of the dugout and argued that Helsley’s signal came too late to be valid. Under MLB’s ABS challenge rules, hitters, catchers, and pitchers must signal immediately after the call, and challenges are not allowed to be relayed from the dugout or initiated after a delay. The key is timing, and timing is judged by the umpiring crew.

Twins manager Derek Shelton was LIVID as he argued that Ryan Helsley didn’t challenge this call fast enough pic.twitter.com/NnsgUb3iap

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 29, 2026

“I didn’t think Helsley tapped his cap quick enough,” Shelton said after the game. “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, but I didn’t feel he did. I feel like it’s got to be something within the three seconds, and I didn’t think it was there.”

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Bell, who was halfway to first when the challenge happened, said he didn’t know enough about the exact timing standard to weigh in on whether it was late.

“I was halfway to first,” Bell said when asked if he thought Helsley was late initiating the challenge. “I don’t know the official rules on it, but I saw him challenge.”

The scene escalated because Shelton didn’t just complain once and head back to the dugout. He continued to bark at the crew, including second-base umpire and crew chief Laz Diaz, and home plate umpire Chris Segal ejected him. It was Shelton’s first ejection as Twins manager, but not his first time getting run; he was ejected 16 times during his five-plus seasons managing the Pirates.

Helsley acknowledged the moment was messy and described it as part of the sport learning the new system in real time.

“I understood where [Shelton] was coming from because I felt like the umpire didn’t see me right away, so I was kind of confused,” Helsley said. “Laz, behind me, took up for him. He was like, ‘He did it right away,’ which I know we’re probably going to go through some growing pains with this since it’s so new. I think we saw that today.”

The irony is that the challenge itself was correct on the merits. The pitch clipped the outside edge, and the call was overturned accordingly. The entire fight was about whether the tap came quickly enough to count and a new kind of argument that only exists because baseball now has a built-in “appeal to the robot” button.

And it wasn’t the only ABS drama of the afternoon. The Twins and Orioles combined for 10 challenges, with multiple overturns. By the time the ninth-inning moment arrived, the game had already featured a steady drumbeat of “tap the head, wait, confirm” interruptions, the early-season version of a system still settling into what “immediate” looks like when adrenaline is high and the inning is on the line.

The Orioles held on to finish it, but the headline left Baltimore with the win and MLB with its first robot ump ejection.

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