Why was Tampa Bay Rays' shortstop Taylor Walls ejected amid play for tapping on his helmet?

What does tapping on the helmet mean? That one question is creating a ruckus all over the globe right now. Tampa Bay Rays’ shortstop Taylor Walls tapped on his helmet after a play. The home plate umpire, Nic Lentz, took it as an automated ball-strike challenge system. In simple terms? Players can tap their helmets to challenge a call. But Walls did not mean that. He shared with MLB.com, “It looks like I tapped my helmet. But it was totally unintentional, something I was not consciously aware of at all.”On Sunday afternoon, in the ninth inning of Tampa Bay Rays vs Houston Astros, when Rays’ shortstop Taylor Walls was in-bat against Astros closer Josh Hader, he took a first-pitch slider. According to the official website of MLB, the first-pitch slider appeared to be just below the strike zone. But the home plate umpire, Nic Lentz, called it a strike. After that, Walls communicated with Lentz twice and said that the pitch was too low to be called a strike. He adjusted his helmet, moved two steps ahead, then looked at Nic Lentz and tapped on his helmet thrice.Nic Lentz walks up to Taylor Walls and says, “You are not going to do that. You are not going to tap your helmet.”Walls said, “I watched the video, and I could see where he may have that thought. But 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. I just remember going to get into the box, kind of adjusting my helmet, and then hearing him mouthing something.I was like, I think I said, ‘Huh, what did 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.”The 28-year-old second baseman lost his cool when Nic Lentz asked him to leave amid play. He removes his helmet, throws it to the ground, tries to threaten, comes at him, points fingers, tries to jump on him(to punch him maybe?), comes back, and screams at him angrily - but luckily, he was handled by the rest of the MLB crew on the ground.Fans reacted to FOX Sports: MLB's X post: Taylor Walls was ejected from the game after tapping his helmet. One fan wrote, "To be fair, he didn’t get ejected for tapping his helmet, it was for what came out of his mouth. These headlines are never honest about what actually happened." Another fan commented, "If I recall correctly, nearly half of all batters, who get up to bat. Tap their helmet down to make sure it’s secure. If it became some other gesture. That’s just weak." A third fan said, "Referees are ruining sports."A fan justified both Taylor Walls and umpire Nic Lentz actions, "Seems that both overreacted. Umpire overreacted by ejecting Walls for simply challenging the call. Walls overreacted by his aggression towards the umpire. Two wrongs don’t make a right." While another fan bluntly wrote, "ump kinda had to toss him. gotta make an example outta him and show there’s basically a zero tolerance for a “tapping” taunt"Amidst everybody concentrating on how Taylor Walls' play was stopped, an X user brought their focus on Walls' play, "Buddy is hitting .188 , settle down."On June 2, Rob Friedman, American Baseball Analyst shared on his X: Taylor Walls getting ejected for Tapping his Helmet after this call. "I didn't tap sh*t" (you be the judge).Friedman then commented on his own post: Just own it. "Yeah I tapped my helmet. It was a horse sh*t call. Go watch it after the game and your next words next time you see me better be 'I'm sorry, Mr. Walls.'" 🤣One fan reacted to it saying, "Hear me out….. every player should be able to fight 1 ump per season."A fan noted, "Umps are rage bait at this point. If we go to robot umps MLB loses engagements on posts like this."On June 5, Taylor Walls outperformed himself. In the same 'ninth inning' against the Houston Astros that got him ejected merely for touching/tapping on his helmet, he hit a two-run single to second baseman Marcus Semien of the Texas Rangers, leading to a 4-3 victory!On June 6, the official X account of the Tampa Bay Rays shared the last winning moment of Taylor Walls against the Texas Rangers. They captioned it: "A WALKOFF SWEEP." One fan commented, "THEY JUST LOST TO TAYLOR WALLS." Another wrote, "TAYLOR “WALKOFF” WALLS." A third fan said, "WALLS IS MY NEW FAVORITE PLAYER."On June 3, Taylor Walls' wife, Hallie Walls, posted a video on TikTok where the second baseman for the Rays is casually lying on the sofa with a basketball in hand, trying to aim at the wall. His wife captioned it: "When my husband comes home after being ejected from his game for tapping his helmet." She tries to say "Hey" to him twice, but he doesn't look at her even once. She then takes a selfie video with him in the background and says, "How are you doing?"Also Read: How much is Jacob deGrom worth in 2025? A look at his MLB salary, contract and earnings | MLB News - Times of India