It wasn’t just to the naked eye that Angel Hernandez knew he was calling again.
The data supported that obvious conclusion.
MLB’s most controversial umpire was on Friday night when Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford came up to the plate and threw three fastballs outside the zone (each of which appeared to be farther into the batter’s box on the opposite side than the other). ) and declared a strike.
At the time, the Rangers were leading the Astros 8-1 in the top of the fourth inning.
These three consecutive pitches were judged to be the three most influential missed calls of the game in terms of the greatest change in expected score. According to UmpScorecards.com.
According to scoring websites, Hernandez made 6.3 fewer correct calls in games than the average umpire, making only 187 of his 205 pitches correct.
Six of the 150 called balls should have been strikes, and 12 of the 55 called balls should have been balls.
According to the umpire, Langford’s third shot missed the plate by 6.78 inches.
This was the biggest strikeout failure in the social media account’s tracking history.
“I had a little thing to say to him. It was comical,” Langford said after the game. “I should have known. After he called the first one a strike, I should have called the next two strikes.”
This is nothing new for Hernandez, who was at the center of the Yankees’ controversial strike call against Gleyber Torres earlier this week.
His inconsistency has routinely drawn ire from players and coaches, and the Rangers’ announcers chimed in Friday night.
You must be kidding! ” said Rangers Bally Sports Southwest play-by-play announcer Dave Raymond. “What on earth is that?!”
“This is just bad,” added analyst Dave Vallée. “Three consecutive pitches came off the plate well.
“It’s so obvious. That was terrible.”
Hernandez was the lowest-rated umpire in the umpire audit last season.
