It wasn’t just the naked eye that knew Angel Hernandez was blowing calls again.
The data backed up the obvious conclusion.
MLB’s most controversial umpire called strikes on three straight pitches outside the zone — each seemingly further into the opposite batter’s box than the other — during a plate appearance Friday night by Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford.
The Rangers led the Astros, 8-1, in the fourth inning at the time.
The three consecutive pitches were judged as three most impactful missed calls of the game in terms of largest change in run expectations, according to UmpScorecards.com.
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Hernandez had 6.3 fewer correct calls in the game than an average umpire, and only 187 of 205 taken pitches were called correctly, per the grading website.
Six of 150 called balls should’ve been strikes, and 12 of 55 called strikes should’ve been balls.
The called third strike to Langford missed the plate by 6.78 inches, according to Umpire Auditor.
That was the largest miss on a strikeout in the social-media account’s tracking history.
“I had a little 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 swung at the next two.”
Angel Hernandez had a rough night behind home plate. It’s nothing new with Hernandez, who was at the center of a controversial strike call against the Yankees’ Gleyber Torres earlier in the week.
He routinely is the target of ire from players and managers for his inconsistencies, and the Rangers’ announcers chimed in Friday night.
You have got to be kidding me!” Rangers Bally Sports Southwest play-by-play announcer Dave Raymond said. “What in the world?!”
“This is just bad,” analyst Dave Valle added. “Three consecutive pitches well off the plate.
Angel Hernandez has been one of MLB’s most-criticized umpires JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST “That’s just so obvious. That was terrible.”
Hernandez was Umpire Auditor’s lowest-rated umpire last season.
