It is by no means an easy job to be a big-league umpire. In an era where Major League pitchers are throwing harder and with more movement than ever before, the task of calling balls and strikes consistently with any accuracy is beyond difficult.
And all that makes MLB’s refusal to embrace technology and institute an automated strike zone all the more puzzling. The technology is available to make the correct calls behind the plate. It’s even being tested in the minor leagues, but Major League Baseball likely remains years away from a serious conversation about robot umps.
In the meantime, baseball fans are stuck with mediocrity, and frankly, it impacts games.
Advanced data analytics firm Aimpoint Digital set out to show just how bad the umpiring has been in Major League Baseball this season and analyzed nearly 710,000 pitches from 2021. The study showed that some umpires particularly struggled in the most important moments of games (2 outs, runners in scoring position or games within three runs). Jerry Layne and Mike Muchlinski performed the worst this season and got worse as the season continued. Angel Hernandez astonishingly avoided the bottom 10.
The study also broke down bad umpiring into specific missed calls, and that’s where we were able to see the 10 worst strikeout calls from the regular season. Buckle up because it gets really bad.