Boston Red Sox announcer Jerry Remy said on air that non-English speaking players shouldn't be allowed to use translators while on the field.
"Learn baseball language."
This came up as he was discussing New York Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka with play-by-play announcer Dave O'Brien.
Tanaka's translator came to the mound during the 5-4 loss to the Red Sox.
Remy: “I don’t think that should be legal.”
O’Brien: “Seriously?”
Remy: “I really don’t.”
O’Brien: “What is it you don’t like about that?”
Remy: “Ummm, learn baseball language. It’s pretty simple. You break it down pretty easy between pitching coach and pitcher after a long period of time.”
O’Brien: “I would say that probably they’re concerned about nuance being lost in some of these conversations.”
Translators are commonplace in baseball, with many players speaking Spanish, Japanese and Korean as well as English.
Major League Baseball mandated in 2016 that every clubhouse has to have a full-time Spanish-language translator.
A report by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport says 34.5 percent of players in the MLB this season were born outside the US.
Latino players make up 31.9 percent of the league and Asian players make up 1.9 percent.