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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

Umpire Hunter Wendelstedt made easily the worst strikeout call we’ll see this MLB season

We’re getting to the point where MLB umpires are embarrassing themselves on a daily basis. It’s been that bad this season, and Tuesday was no exception.

One day after Diamondbacks catcher José Herrera had to physically stop umpire John Libka from confronting Zac Gallen on the mound (leading to Torey Lovullo’s ejection), we had Hunter Wendelstedt giving us the worst strikeout call we’ll see this MLB season. In a league that still employs Angel Hernandez as an umpire, it’s saying something.

During Tuesday’s game between the Twins and Tigers, Wendelstedt called Eric Haase out on a pitch that was closer to hitting the dirt than it was to catching the strike zone.

So much about that call was absurd. The call came in late — almost as if he made the call because Haase started making his way to first base. The pitch wasn’t even framed well by Gary Sanchez. On top of that, Wendelstedt had words for Haase after making the embarrassing call. It was the kind of miss that makes a great case for robot umps.

MLB fans couldn’t believe an umpire actually called that pitch a strike.

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