Umpire Ángel Hernández has been away from Major League Baseball for most of the 2023 season recovering from an injury. He returned in the final week of July — and not much has changed.
Hernández was the second base umpire for Monday’s game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Washington’s Alex Call tried to steal second base. While the throw from Milwaukee catcher Victor Caratini got to second base well ahead of Call, Hernández ruled that Call was safe. Did Call somehow manage to avoid the tag of shortstop Willy Adames? What happened?
Quite simply, Ángel Hernández happened.
Replays showed that Adames clearly tagged Call well before he touched second base. Milwaukee challenged the call, which was overturned.
The MLB world reacted to Hernández’s blatant miss with a combination of frustration and humor.
To be clear, nobody expects Hernández — or any umpire, for that matter — to be perfect. That’s not a realistic expectation for anyone. That said, it is hard to understand how a person who is consistently graded as one of the worst umpires in the league can continue to make blatant misses and still be allowed out there.
Fortunately, as long as Hernández is umpiring on the bases, most of the calls he makes are reviewable. But on Wednesday, the spotlight will be squarely on him, as Hernández will be the home plate umpire, with balls and strikes non-reviewable.
[Rob Friedman, Photo Credit: MASN]
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