Being slightly off from what the computer says is a ball or strike counts as much as if they are 6 inches off. Players will usually say they don’t mind as much if the umpire has a bigger strike zone as long as they are consistent. Hernandez wasn’t consistent. And when he blew a ball/strike call he really blew it. You could literally call a better game from the stands.
He’s not famous for being bad at his job. He’s famous for being a real asshole.
I hope that when they finally use radar for calling balls and strikes, because it’s impossible for a human being to be accurate no matter how good you are, he can be held as an example of why the umpires should not have so much power to stop it.
I’m waiting for tennis to go 100% computer at some point. The cameras and computers are pretty much perfect. They only need the one official and the rest can go away.
I hate to see things become less human, but it is just true in some sports.
Exactly. There are misses, and then there are “Jesus, what game are you watching?” misses. Every ump misses the occasional call, especially borderline calls. Hernandez was often ridiculously off.
And even worse, as you point out, he wasn’t even bad in a consistent way. At least then you could work with it. One pitch a ball a foot outside is a strike. The very next pitch catches the outside corner, and it’s a ball. It was often a travesty. Both dugouts would spend the whole game barking at him from frustration. I can’t imagine it was much fun for him, working in an an environment where everyone hates you.
I read in the comment section of a bad call video not involving him, “Hernandez would have called that a field goal and awarded five points to Gryffindor.”
Absolutely, for all the same reasons.
In 2023, Hernandez missed 161 calls and finished the year as the MLB’s lowest-ranked ump, according to Umpire Auditor.
Also love this:
And not just behind the plate, the guy was no great shakes around the bases, either. You have to be truly terrible to be noticed for that.
The Tribune reminisced today about one of Angel’s Greatest Hits–the time he ejected Cubs seventh inning stretch singer Steve McMichael.
During at least the last 30+ years, I would have to believe Angel and C.B. Bucknor are neck and neck as the worst ever!
We’re almost there, with only a few tournaments holding out. I think a lot of the pro players are fed up with human line calling. (For example, Medvedev at Monte Carlo. “Hawk-Eye” is the automated line-calling system.)
I’m surprised more baseball players aren’t vocal about humans calling balls and strikes. They are the ones who directly suffer from bad pitch calls. It’s not like the plate umpires will lose their jobs. It’s just that one error-prone task that would be automated.
Note: the technology is not radar, it’s cameras using visible light.
I can see players liking the human element. They can influence the zone, which has always been part of the game. As long as its consistent, it’s less of an issue and sometimes beneficial.
With Hernandez, there was little to no consistency, which was a major problem, aside from his attitude about it.
I’m not advocating for this position, but baseball out of all the major sports is the most tradition-bound, and umpires are part of the game, the culture, the whole picture. That may be the reluctance, if there is reluctance. When you go to the ballpark, there are hot dogs, banners, umpires, etc. It’s comforting in its familiarity.
It’s always been part of the game but framing really became a thing in 2011. The idea of who the best catchers were really changed then.
Related to that is the practice of having the catcher set up much closer to the plate which blocks the view of the umpire on low pitches. The ump has to either use the force or believe the framing. This led to a huge increase in catcher interference. They worked on Wilson Contreras to get closer to the box until he was basically on the plate and got his arm broken.
True enough but either way, it’s an accepted part of the game (for now) and as long as there’s consistency in how things are called, players generally aren’t going to get up in arms about robot umps.
At this point it seems inevitable. Like all the other recent rule changes, robo-umps are being tested in the minor leagues. It seems to be successful. Sooner or later it will be in the majors.
Can’t forget Eric Gregg in said contest either.
Occasionally, they go too far.
Exactly. There is a lot that an umpire does which don’t involve balls and strikes. And I think that they generally do a decent job at all of that other stuff. It’s just this one thing that involves judging a ball flying at upwards of 100 MPH across a short distance in a sometimes circuitous route in real time from a single fixed perspective. It’s not that umpires are blind, or stupid, it’s just that they’re being asked to do something that human beings aren’t physically equipped to do.
True dat! I’m a Braves fan and I will never, ever, ever forget Game 5 of the 1997 NLCS between the Braves and Marlins. He shoulda been fired on the spot!