Ned Yost’s new Apple Watch prompts suspicion from MLB

The black thing on Ned Yost’s wrist caught some eyes Sunday night when the Kansas City Royals played on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Fancy Apple Watch you got there, Ned.

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The national broadcast audience noticed, which led to a few people asking Royals beat writer Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star to find out about Yost’s Apple Watch. Mostly, we assume, because Yost doesn’t seem like the type to use an Apple Watch. He’s more Royal blue than Bluetooth, ya know?

So McCullough talked to Yost and uncovered this fun nugget: MLB had called Yost too, to make sure he wasn’t breaking the rules by using the Apple Watch during games. As you may know, MLB has policies against players and coaches using smart phones and social media and the like during games. And if you don’t know, Pablo Sandoval will gladly remind you.

Anyhow, here’s what McCullough found out:

MLB called Ned Yost to ensure he didn’t use his Apple Watch during games. He said, “When you’re away from your phone, all it is is a watch.”

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) August 18, 2015

MLB does not allow the usage of cell phones in the dugout. Yost assured them that “it’s just a clock.”

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) August 18, 2015

Yost told McCullough that he mostly uses the Apple Watch to check the weather and keep track of his exercise goals — two things he doesn’t really need to do during games. Were he using it to send or recieve iMessages that would be a problem in MLB’s eyes. 

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Are you ready for the plot twist here? It’s the best part. Yost got the watch from — drumroll, please — Major League Baseball! As a gift at this year’s All-Star game. “

Here’s this fancy new watch Ned Yost that you could totally use to break our rules, Ned, but please don’t do that.”

The good news: It seems like everything is within the rules regarding Yost and his Apple Watch and this isn’t going to turn into Sandoval’s double-tapping bathroom incident or worse, some Deflategate-like controversy called AppleWatchGate.

Please, please, please, no. For the sake to every baseball fan breathing, please never let that happen.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz