Major League Baseball umpire Angel Hernandez has repeatedly been named the worst ump over the past few years, but one baseball insider says he doesn’t deserve all the flack he gets.
Speaking on the Cook & Joe Show, Audacy MLB insider Bob Nightengale says that the league is pleased with the job Hernandez does pointing out a game two weeks ago between the Brewers and Phillies, saying overall, he was pretty accurate.
In that game, Kyle Schwarber was caught looking at a pitch that appeared to be a ball. Schwarber snapped and confronted Hernandez for what he thought was a series of missed calls.
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Nightengale says another reason for perceived bad performance is because strike zone boxes on television are not accurate.
“The bad part is those strike zones on TV, those things are off so the game you’re talking about, Angel Hernandez had a score of 96 percent accuracy by Major League Baseball so I think TV is giving it the wrong impression,” said Nightengale.
Nightengale adds another reason that umpires get a bad rap is because players won’t swing the bat at close pitches.
“Some of these guys it’s like a quarter-inch off the plate, just swing the bat, too many guys are looking for a walk instead of looking to drive the ball or something like that,” said Nightengale.
Umpire Scorecards on Twitter gave Hernandez a grade of 91 percent accuracy while behind the plate for the Padres/Marlin on May 6.
So maybe umpires like Hernandez and Joe West aren’t as bad as we think, but then again perception is reality and robotic umpires may be inevitable.