Former player shares theory on controversial Ángel Hernández calls

Did Ángel Hernández once make a call for the sole purpose of defending one of his crewmates? A.J. Pierzynski thinks so.

In 2010, Joe West called a pair of balks on then-Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle. The first drew an argument from Ozzie Guillén, Chicago’s manager at the time, which resulted in West ejecting Guillén. Later in the game, West called another balk on Buehrle, which led to Buehrle tossing his glove to the ground and getting ejected by West.

Later in the season, the same crew was umpiring a White Sox game with Buehrle pitching. This time, West was the third base umpire and Hernández was the home plate umpire. Again, Buehrle was called for a pair of balks, this time by Hernández. Guillén argued the calls and was ejected. On Tuesday, Guillén, who now does pre and postgame shows for the White Sox, recalled the later game and noted that the crew seemed to look for balks. Pierzynski, Chicago’s catcher for both games, had a different theory.

While the baseball world has generally been delighted by Hernández’s retirement, West defended his former crewmate, saying Hernández was “good at umpiring.” And just like West had Hernández’s back, Pierzynski felt that Hernández calling those balks was just him having West’s back.

“This was next game with the #umpire crew after Buerhle was thrown out,” Pierzynski said. “Angel 100% did this to cover for Joe West calling balk.”

West, like Hernández, was a much-maligned umpire before his 2021 retirement. Certainly it’s not hard to believe that they would be quick to defend each other.