Veteran umpire Ángel Hernández has been a longtime target of criticism from players and fans alike for missed or bad calls. So it’s no surprise that, when he made a very questionable (to put it generously) strike call during Sunday’s game between the Braves and Giants, fans were quick to mobilize and call him out.
With Atlanta pitcher Max Fried facing San Francisco’s Thairo Estrada, Hernández awarded a strike on a Fried pitch that was well outside the digitized strike zone shown on the broadcast. The strike call drew a bit of sarcasm and a laugh from the broadcasters, who noted that the pitch was “near” the outside corner.
"As Fried fires a strike near the outside corner..." 🤣🔊
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 20, 2023
Ángel Hernández special. pic.twitter.com/klrqNU2qDr
Such poor calls have come to be expected from Hernández, who has been calling MLB games for over 30 years. The @UmpScorecards account on X, formerly known as Twitter, evaluates umpires based on the accuracy of their balls and strikes calls compared to the expected accuracy, and grades Hernández as the worst ball-strike umpire in the league.
Hernández’s latest gaffe elicited more reactions from the baseball world, which routinely relishes the chance to point out his foibles. Check out some of those responses below.
What is Ángel Hernández looking at?! 😳 pic.twitter.com/qIBPTmvHf2
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 20, 2023
Angel Hernandez is just guessing back there, man
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) August 20, 2023
pic.twitter.com/F2PXooyoxh
all year i’ve thought “is it really fair to bully angel hernandez when all umpires have been bad?” the answer is yes https://t.co/7qoasktUwU
— ali (@alisonrae22) August 20, 2023
How is he getting worse? https://t.co/vicKE7ZLgC
— Chris Castellani (@Castellani2014) August 20, 2023
you have to give it to Angel. This is very funny https://t.co/oDrVeTqox3
— Chris Branch (@cbranch89) August 20, 2023
Honestly, is MLB cool with having an umpire trend on here every time he’s behind the plate? https://t.co/OxuwR6Jcq4
— Noah Austin (@noah_austin) August 20, 2023
He’s put in the work, time to pull him up to the LLWS, he’s ready. https://t.co/jgsNaVlVan
— josh (@joshuacastilloo) August 20, 2023
