When it comes to over-thinking as an umpire, Angel Hernandez really can’t help himself. He can take a simple play and send an entire game off the rails by inserting himself into the action.
On Sunday, he only needed one play for that to happen.
In the first inning of the Mets’ game against the Marlins, Brandon Nimmo appeared to get things started with a lead-off triple to the left-center gap. The ball rolled to the wall and came to a stop under the wall’s padding. Now, if the ball is lodged in the padding, the fielders are told to signal an “out of play” to the umpires by holding up their arms. Neither Jerar Encarnacion nor JJ Bleday did that here.
Bleday immediately reached for the ball, picked it up with no problem and threw towards third.
The first batter of the game, and Angel Hernandez is already at it again
“I have never seen this call. It is a terrible call.” pic.twitter.com/C06xcYQy23
— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) September 11, 2022
Hernandez — the furthest umpire from the play at home — called the play dead as a ground-rule double. Hernandez might have viewed Encarnacion pointing to third as some sort of “out of play” signal, but that really wasn’t what happened at all.
The Mets should have had a lead-off triple, but they had to settle for a double because Hernandez felt the need to make a call that no other umpire would make in that situation.
No wonder MLB fans were not impressed with the embattled umpire.