Baseball is rapidly approaching the input of robo-umps, eliminating the need for human umpires behind the plate. You wouldn’t know it if you ever watch a game with me, as I tend to immediately call for an umpires head with any bad call against my team, but I like having real umpires. I think the human aspect and players adjusting to specific umpires strike-zones is a part of the game. This of course means acknowledging that umpires are human beings, and missed/bad calls are to be assumed on occasion. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad at their job, just that they’re human and can make mistakes. Except in the case of specific umpire, Angel Hernandez, who has become infamous in MLB for his atrocious calls. When an umpires poor calls outnumber his good ones, it’s fair to question their qualifications for the job. In the case of Angel Hernandez, you have to wonder why is it he is so bad at his job?
Umpires tend to be nameless entities in a baseball game. Only the most die-hard fans pay attention to who is calling the game on the field. People say that if fans don’t know who you are as an umpire, it because you’re doing your job well. It’s not until one of them begin to make repeatedly bad calls that fans take notice of who they are. Even then, it’s not common for an umpire to be a household name. Angel Hernandez has somehow managed to obliterate any social norms that MLB umpires enjoy. Fans audibly groan, if not something worse, when they see he is working a game.
He’s Been an Umpire a For Long Time
Hernandez began calling games for the National League in 1991. In 2000, when the American League and National League umpires consolidated, he remained in the league. Prior to that he was working in the Florida State League beginning in 1981. That’s over forty years of umpiring professional baseball. However rather than hone his craft over that time period, he has somehow continued to make headlines for dubious reasons.
His Calls Make the News More Often than Not
It seems every game he works has absolutely batshit calls that make fans wonder what the hell game he’s watching. When he’s behind home plate, it’s more likely than not that his strike-zone is not going to conform to any typical norms other umpires use in their heads when calling balls and strikes. And it’s not just the fans, announcers have also called him out for his garlingly bad calls and miscues. Most recently he had announcers throwing insults his way as it seemed he was trying to rush the game with bad calls.
It’s hard to argue with the announcers after watching that clip, as those three “strikes” were nowhere near even the most imaginary of strike-zones. Credit to Langford for not giving in at all and jawing with Hernandez, much less even look at him to wonder if his eyes were open during the at-bat. I’m sure players have to mentally prepare themselves before a game when they know Hernandez is working the plate. There’s gotta be some sorta anger management meditation they work into their pregame routine. For any further evidence of just how awful Angel is at his job, a simple google search will supply one with infinite examples.
Possible Reasons He’s So Bad at His Job
Baseball has been trying new ways to get fans engaged in the sport for years now. That’s why a lot of fans have wondered how Angel has managed to keep his job. There’s a number of fan theories regarding him and his relationship with MLB, so it’s anyone’s guess. Rather than delve into why he gets to keep working, I think we should focus on just what could possibly make him so incredibly bad at his job. There’s something more to the psyche of this man. How else can he continue to go out there knowing he is extremely bad at umpiring?
I just want to make it clear that these are all only theories, and not factually correct. Possible, but not factual. To be as bad as he is though, something else has to be at play.
He’s Trolling the MLB
This one would tie into the fan theories about why Angel still has a job despite any umpiring capabilities. Fans think he may have dirt on certain high ranking individuals in the MLB front office. If this were to be true, he’d be untouchable, and he knows it. If a man is going to be so sinister he’s willing to blackmail powerful executives, he won’t stop there.
An evil mastermind would want to rub his iron clad plan in the faces of those he’s blackmailing. It’s possible Angel gets off purposefully screwing up calls knowing that the MLB can’t do anything about it. This would be a power move on his part, as every obvious ball he calls a strike would twist the proverbial knife just a bit more into the side of the MLB. It’s like when the villain in a movie tells the hero their entire plan, bragging about it. Except unlike in the movies, Angel Hernandez gets away with it.
Spite
Angel Hernandez actually sued the MLB a few years ago blaming racial discrimination on his lack of opportunities in the league. This included not getting to call World Series games in over a decade and being passed over for promotions. Ultimately, common sense would prevail and the court basically said his lack of opportunity correlated with his lack of competence. However this was a highly publicized lawsuit brought by an umpire held in high ill-repute. It definitely ate at Angel Hernandez, even though he was allowed to work an all-star game and some playoff games after.
It’s not too far-fetched to think maybe Angel has held onto some resentment from that lawsuit. Rather than publicly speak about his animosity towards the league, I wouldn’t be surprised if he just decided to intentionally make horrendous calls, knowing it would negatively impact the league. Maybe he decided to play the long game to ruin the MLB’s reputation through his only means of defense: his feeble minded umpiring skills.
He Has Money on the Games
Pete Rose has (unfairly) had his name etched into infamy while simultaneously being ostracized thanks to gambling. We just saw one of MLB’s biggest stars, Shohei Ohtani, get dragged into a gambling scandal. As gambling becomes more prevalent in professional sports, it’s understandable to ask how deep of an impact it will have. You hear about Vegas playing a role in the NFL all the time nowadays, including from me. Why wouldn’t an MLB umpire want to get in on the fix if he could benefit from it? Greed is basic human instincts, and this would just be another unfortunate draw of using human umpires.
Odds and lines are proudly displayed all over now for every sport, so Angel definitely is aware of them by gametime. He lacks so much common sense when it comes to calling balls and strikes, so it’s not a reach to think he lacks it in regards to ethics as well. Leagues can say they regulate their employees gambling all they want, but as we saw with Ohtani, that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. Though, I’m not sure if Angel possesses brain capability to do it without being caught. If his sense on the field is any sign though, he’d probably be dumb enough to use his own phone and have a username AHernandez55 on Fanduel. MLB might wanna look into that one.
He’s Legally Blind
Not saying he’s Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles level blind, but honestly I question if they’d have made better calls than him at times. Perhaps he just has terrible eyesight and some games he forgot to put his contacts in, or one falls out and he’s too proud to admit it. With some of the calls he’s defended making, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear he has this much pride. Its also tough to make accurate calls when all you see is a plethora of colorful blurs. I honestly won’t be shocked if someone puts Angel two feet away from one of those eyesight charts and he can’t identify the “E” at the top. Does MLB not have good vision insurance? If they don’t, it’d also explain their jersey situation this year.
He Has a Stake in Robo-Umps
TrackMan is the company that makes the robo-umps that MLB has used in their minor leagues. What better publicity would the company have than their main competition (i.e., human umpires) showing their own flaws. Angel Hernandez could be pulling an amazing sales technique by advertising the need for TrackMan in baseball. Some of the calls Angel makes surely would has fans clamoring for technology to take his job.
I checked out their website and it doesn’t have much information on the company. I assume they asked for input from professional umpires when developing their technology though. As a young upstart, perhaps Angel saw the potential and invested in their product. This would be a catch-22, as I’m sure if they used any of Angel’s umpiring knowledge, the product itself won’t be very adept at making accurate calls.
Drugs or Alcohol
I used to umpire for rec league baseball games, and I can attest that pregame beers was not uncommon. Angel has been in the game forever, when he started alcohol was even less frowned upon than it is now. It’s possible his pregame routine also involved slamming a few tall boys in his car before umpiring youth baseball game back in the 70’s. Old habits are hard to break, and if he was accustomed to a couple of beers before a game, why not continue that tradition all throughout his career. His ability to argue the dumbest of his calls is akin to some drunk at the bar defending their own viewpoints. Neither of them make sense, but in their warped mind they’re 100% correct, and fully capable of driving their own car home.
Hernandez also started in Florida leagues in the 1980s, and not for nothing but that wasn’t exactly a church retreat down there. GTA Vice City and Scarface have made it very clear what the environment was like in Florida at that time. Angel was definitely in the thick of things, not to mention he was born in Cuba. In Angel’s mind, he always tells the truth on the field, even when he lies.
He’s Secretly a Member of The Impractical Jokers
We need to get a closeup of Angel’s ears next time he’s umping; there may be an earpiece in there. Some of the calls he makes are so blatantly wrong, it’s easy to imagine Q is up in the box telling him what to say. With Joe Gatto no longer on the show, maybe they’ve been pulling one long ruse on us, the viewers, having substituted Angel Hernandez and not telling anyone. I can see Sal telling him “Alright now call that ball that was 15 feet outside a strike and stare the batter dead in the eyes after.” Right before falling backwards laughing as Angel does it with a straight face.
He’s Bad at Fantasy Football
A lot of people find themselves in fantasy football leagues with people they work with. It’s entirely feasible the MLB umpires have their own league as well. As with most leagues, maybe theirs has a punishment for whoever comes in last. This could be that loser has to make the most asinine calls at least 15 times a game for an entire season. Now, if this is true, that would mean Angel Hernandez has been coming in last place for almost 30 years now. If we ever see Angel umpiring a game in a bikini or something, we’ll know this is true. And then we’ll all stab ourselves in the eyes (and still be able to call a better game than Hernandez).
He Never Learned the Rules of Baseball
The MLB rulebook is almost 200 pages, and it reads like a legal document. It’s not something people spend their free time going over, and it’s probably not the easiest thing to memorize. A lot of people go through life with a “fake it til you make it” attitude, and manage to still get far. Angel may have started his career with that mindset, and as the years progressed and too much time had passed, he just was too afraid to mention it. There has to be some YouTube videos explaining the strike zone or basic fundamentals of baseball rules out there, though. You’d think Angel would have at least tried to Google those by this point. Then again, I don’t want to think about Angel’s search history.
He Enjoys the Attention
Angel could just be an egomaniac who is doing all this for the attention. Being an umpire is a thankless job. The greatest games ever umpired aren’t acknowledged, as these are just things we assume should happen. As I said earlier, if an umpire is doing his job correct, chances are we won’t know their name. Angel might not like this ideology, instead going out of his way to ensure he is a household name. Nobody remembers the umpire who called a fair game, but the guy who called a ball that bounced over home plate a strike, that guy will never be forgotten.
He’s Just Really Really Bad at his Job
Unfortunately, this is the most likely answer. He has a history of being incompetent while continuing to have a job. Nobody out there would try to improve their work ethic if they can get away with minimum effort and succeed. Angel Hernandez is the embodiment of that. There’s no need to improve on his part if he doesn’t need to. Especially when MLB won’t hold him accountable. Meanwhile we’ll continue to deal with him changing the outcome of games. All solely because of his inability to make simple calls. Luckily if he isn’t calling the game for your team, it’s fun to watch and see what abysmal call he’ll make next. I’m sure it could be turned into a drinking game, but the chances of alcohol poisoning are way too high in this case.
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