MLB Again Admits Angel Hernandez Is a Terrible Umpire

Major League Baseball has, once again, emphatically stated that Angel Hernandez is a terrible umpire. Yes, we all already knew that, but it's nice to have confirmation that MLB agrees.

The Cuban-born Hernandez sued MLB, alleging discrimination because he'd never been made a crew chief and has missed out on World Series assignments. The league responded, in detail, that he wasn't getting those assignments due to awful performance, not discrimination.

U.S. district judge J. Paul Oetken granted a summary judgement to MLB in March of 2021, but Hernandez appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February. Hernandez is requesting the court toss out Oetken's decision. MLB responded to his latest legal filing and revealed even more details about just how bad Hernandez has been.

On Wednesday, we learned Hernandez was on track to be part of the World Series crew in 2018, then something crazy happened. Hernandez had three calls overturned at first base in one game -- Game 3 of the American League Division Series between the Yankees and Red Sox.

MLB made that claim as part of the filing:

"Hernandez did not capitalize on that opportunity and did not rise to the occasion. This was the first time since the advent of expanded instant replay in 2014 that an umpire had three calls overturned in a postseason game. Based on his performance during that Division Series playoff game, Torre was not confident in Hernandez's ability to perform effectively on an even more intense stage, and for this reason did not select him for the World Series that season."

The filing continued:

"Hernandez has not presented, and the record does not contain, a scintilla of evidence that MLB's actions were based on his race or national origin..."

MLB also noted Hernandez's failure to reverse a pretty obvious call that caused controversy. On May 8, 2013, Oakland's Adam Rosales ripped what should have been a game-tying home run in the ninth inning at Cleveland. Hernandez called it a double. Then failed to overturn his call on replay. He has also refused to take any responsibility for it.

Here's what the league said:

"For years, Hernandez has refused to admit that the call he made was incorrect and instead has attempted to blame the quality of the replay equipment. Hernandez's inability to put the Cleveland incident behind him -- and his continued insistence that others were at fault for his wrong decision -- was emblematic of why Torre considered him to be unsuitable for World Series assignments and a permanent crew chief role. The issue was not the bad call itself, but Hernandez's reaction to his mistake."

MLB also noted the following:

"Hernandez has been quick to eject managers, which enflames on-field tensions, rather than issue warnings that potentially could defuse those situations. Hernandez also has failed to communicate with other umpires on his crew, which has resulted in confusion on the field and unnecessary game delays."

In 2014, Joe Torre -- then MLB's chief baseball officer -- saw Hernandez throwing his headset after replay review overturned one of his calls. Then Hernandez misapplied a substitution rule, leading to a 14-minute delay and a protested game between the Red Sox and Rays.

All-in-all, MLB laid out a convincing case that Hernandez just sucks at his job. We wholeheartedly agree.