Robot umps can’t come fast enough. Umpires, like all of us, aren’t perfect. Even Pat Hoberg, the most accurate ump in the majors according to Umpire Scorecards (he’s also been the third-most consistent with his strike zone), has flubbed 63 calls this season (3.9 percent).
Still, there’s a big difference between being on the wrong end of a borderline pitch and this clear-as-day strike, inexplicably called a ball by homeplate umpire Ed Hickox, during Thursday’s Dodgers/White Sox series finale at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Dylan Cease’s second-inning offering to Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger, an 0-1 knuckle curve clocking in at just 83 mph, was as obvious a strike as you’ll ever see. But not to Hickox who, unsurprisingly, graded as the least accurate umpire in MLB last season with 246 missed calls. His 91.3-percent accuracy rate was worse than both “Cowboy” Joe West (92.9) and Angel Hernandez (92.7), each well-known to fans as liabilities behind the plate.
Bellinger struck out later in the at-bat, letting Hickox off the hook for one of the worst calls of the 2022 season. Between Hickox’s gaffe and White Sox manager Tony La Russa signaling for an intentional walk despite Trea Turner being behind in the count (a decision he’d immediately regret with Max Muncy launching a three-run homer moments later), Thursday’s matinee was a weird one, with Los Angeles winning an 11-9 slugfest to take the series two games to one.
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