When I started this video, Angel Hernandez was an umpire. Now with 10 minutes to go, he is no longer an umpire. Pretty crazy for a sport that doesn't exist.
Yeah and just hijacking to remind everyone that angel IS and WAS bad. Guy ump'd just ten games last year and blew 161 calls in that time. Sharpshooter fallacy is on display in this thread. You can't just draw a circle around the stats you like and exclude the ones you don't. I don't agree with the title of this video or the message it sends because Angel earned his reputation
Man for real is making this joke this joke shouldn't exist just like the people who make it it's not funny and it's shocking how it's the top comment almost every time something along the lines of: "How is this being talked about it doesn't exist?" Crazy
And just to remind everyone, the title and general theme of this video is straight up incorrect. Angel is one of the least consistent umpires the MLB has ever seen (his numbers and accuracy vary wildly by team and by year of service), culminating in a 2023 season where he missed 161 calls in 10 games. Angel (among Wendelstadt, Kulpa and West) can all be attributed with having umpires' jobs replaced by robots. Not to mention, umpires' numbers decline with age. There's a very clear and noticeable trend in this regard. If Angel or any other ancient Ump had acknowledged that fact even once, we wouldn't be celebrating as much as we are. Angel really hurt the legitimacy of the sport with his narcissism.
BDE loves these clickbait pisstake vids every once in a while. Angel is undoubtedly one of the worst umpires anyway you slice it. A whole bad he had a video about “why jeter sucks”. It’s a fun exercise, but it’s just not true. He’d make a great defense attorney.
@@trustred He did suck as a fielder. Had he been a DH, there'd be no doubt, one of the greatest of all time. But as a shortstop, yeah statistically he was shit
Haha right? And this video is wrong, anyways. Angel does suck. When umps inevitably start making less money as their job is replaced by a computer, future umpires will cite Angel as the beginning of the end. The person who destroyed Umpire credibility for future generations. 161 missed calls in 10 total ump'd games in 2023 is just dreadful performance. Good riddance, Angel!
This guy is so good at making videos about something that doesn’t even exist. The stories he makes about “umpires” just shows how much dedication he has to his fake little game he made up.
Angel just watched this and, with the first tear of joy he has shed in decades, called it a career knowing that at least one person sees his cumulative career accomplishments.
The problem isn't him being bad. It's that when he makes a bad call it's almost always horrendous. How do you call those 3 pitches to Langford strikes?
@@hoodieninja_7203yeah, and that’s the problem, that’s the reason he’s kept his job for all these years and caused suffering for players and teams throughout his time, his personality, which is not being good at refereeing, that’s the problem.
@@hunteranderson3161 buddy ripping away someone’s chance of winning the WS in one of their only chances at it during a playoff run is devastating. Having the one thing that you wanted since you were a child being took away from you because of a dumb call is suffering. There is a reason why almost every single player in the league hated him with a passion.
In his last video he mentioned that Paul Skenes hasn’t even been called up to the majors yet. Skenes got called up like an hour later. BDE is on a hot streak rn.
i feel like angels calls behind the plate aren’t why people hate him it’s a combination of how quickly he ejects people and his atrocious calls in the field
Exactly. His ability to blow a big call in high impact situations is what really makes him stand out. The fact that he is so unapologetically bad just makes it worse. I think a good comparison would be Jim Joyce. He blew a call that cost a pitcher a perfect game and he acknowledged it and clearly felt awful about it. And most players, including the pitcher in question, loved him for it. Just imagine how Angel would react if he did the same thing and I think it will show the reason he is so widely considered to be the worst. It's way more than just number of balls and strikes incorrectly called.
It wouldn’t be so bad if his atrocious calls happened in the first inning, but it always seems he makes them in the most consequential moments of a game.
one thing to note that most baseball players dont mind a ump missing as long as the miss is consistent the entire game every game. So they know the strike zone that umpire tend to have. its when they are all over the place that they get heated. (of course this is not a set rule in stone and outcomes can vary)
Since Pat Hoberg called a game better than a robot would, perhaps MLB should enter all his calls into an algorithm to create their inevitable robot umpire.
That's a good idea. Maybe we should have that algorithm, and then pay people to be on the field with a relay team in the video rooms that see the pitches/plays, and then they relay it to the person on the field to call it, that way it'll be 100% accurate and everyone will love everyone on the field
I laugh everytime I see some fool thinking the MLB will ever go to a robot ump. Only naive children still think professional sports officiating is about anything other than dictating outcomes. They're never going to give up that ability. It's sports entertainment not impartial competition.
the ump POV shots made me feel for them for a second, then I remembered I'm not professionally trained and haven't been calling balls and strikes in MLB for the last 25 years
It made me remember why I get frustrated with most umps. Every one of the camera angles was leaning on the batter side because the umps are more worried about a foul ball than getting the call right. Of course you’re going to make bad calls when your perspective changes each batter.
@@wsb9045the view was on the batter side because the catcher was lined up on the outside corner. If the umpire positioned himself behind the other shoulder his face and view would be 2-3 feet outside the plate. The umpire should always set up over the shoulder of the catcher that offers the most direct view of the plate. If the catcher lines up inside, they position over the outside shoulder. If the catcher lines up with his head right down the center of the plate the umpire should be over the left shoulder unless the catcher is left handed.
The POV doesn't even make sense, I got all of those right and I've never been an ump in my life. I've hit against 90+ before though in high school (we had a stacked division) and it's a whole different game when you have your eyes vs watching video. The batter POV looks so much quicker to me than when I was actually in the batters box, and I'm sure that's the same for umpires. You're completely losing your spacial sense and hearing by watching a video, I could tell how deep a ball was hit in the outfield by the sound of it and I'm sure that helps with umping as well. All of that on top of what you said, I don't have any experience being an umpire and I still got it right.
I think this is most of it. He has poor timing for bad calls. The other part is that once people started calling him a bad ump, people would assume close calls were wrong just cause everyone knows he is a bad ump. That led to people making scenes about bad calls and getting ejected.
It's probably more fair to say that some of his bad calls have been the most publicized, because honestly how many other umpires can most people name? Even some baseball diehard like jomboy doesn't refer to umpires by name 95% of the time.
@@jestice75 Exactly, its very different if they're close calls and could go either way and then review proves him wrong, but his are just so blatantly wrong with his missed calls that it stains your brain
@@twb2837missed the point if you think it’s as easy as just firing someone. If you cut the bottom 30% of producers on every baseball roster you’re replacing them with… what exactly?
You actually can sign up to be an umpire. There's a school in Florida that one applies for and attends, then if they do well enough, they get assigned to minor league games and eventually reach the majors. There were some years when a lot of prospects got accepted and even fast-tracked to the majors because some of retiring umpires.
Wait but based on anecdotal evidence you were supposed to get the call wrong!! Noooo! Sharpshooter fallacy will convince you anything if you're willing to ignore the greater context of Angel's career. Angel suuucks. And no, "the MLB thought he was above average in 2013!" isn't a compelling argument. If you have to point to anecdotal evidence from 11 YEARS AGO to make your point, you're probably stretching.
At least Joe didn't try to intentionally fuck over teams and players just for a power trips. He was just old as shit and wasn't that great at his job but was basically unfirable. I don't think he was being intentionally malicious like CB Bucknor.
16:50 “you stink and I don’t like you” has to be the funniest possible insult he could’ve selected. like the most G-rated insult said in the angriest possible tone 😂
At 21:33, notice that 9 of the 10 worst umpires have 17+ years experience while the ten best all have 5 or less. Imagine how many guys are stuck in the minors while Jerry Layne works his 30th year. It’s ridiculous
Those umpires also came up in a completely different era where they weren't so closely monitored every single pitch. Don't believe me? Watch some games in the 90s. Greg Maddux would be an average pitcher in 2024 because he wouldn't get anywhere close to the calls he did back then. And by the way, that is not necessarily a bad thing. They are calling the game more closely to the rulebook now than ever before, and that's a good thing.
@@sawmill035 The response should be that times are changing and it’s not cutting it. That’s like a pitcher from the 40s coming in throwing 83 and getting lit up but being able to stay in the majors because of the union while a guy like Paul Skenes sits in AAA
@JonathanNielsen-bd1bxThe issue with age limits is that it makes the job even more unappealing if you know you can only do it for a few years before you have to stop. Not really a lot of useful skills you pick up being an MLB referee that you can put on your resume, so they'd have to start paying umps even more than they already do
I feel like it's not the frequency of bad calls with Angel, it's more how extreme the bad calls are. He might not miss the most but when he does he misses big time. And his propensity for throwing players out. I don't have the data on if he throws more guys out than others but it certainly feels that way. If an ump makes a bad strike call the batter will move on by the next time he bats, but when they get tossed that's all they think about the rest of the day, so that would probably cause people to lean a lot more negatively towards their opinion of him. Then now that he already has a reputation for being bad, making people more likely to blow up at him... bit of a downward spiral
In any given year, Angel Hernandez is almost always in the bottom half of ejections in the league. He doesn't throw out that many people, but when he does it's just mega publicized because people are obsessed with him. The data doesn't support your conclusion
Most people have no idea how hard umpiring is, especially behind the plate. With the digital strike improvements, missed calls stick out. Most people wouldn't even notice most missed calls if you take the zone off the screen.. Umpires have been getting better and better for years. It's just that misses are obvious during broadcast now. There are obviously some umpires that have been around too long and need to hang up the ole ball pouch. But there are several that are working now that are amongst the best, most accurate ones to call balls and strikes of all time.
Ironically, you missed another great point at 22:01. At #7 is Jim Joyce, who for years, before tracking, was constantly voted one the best umpire by the players.
Dude got ejected by Randy Marsh. Imagine getting ejected by a south park character. I imagine after that, Randy stripped down to his whittie tighties and started fighting the players 70 year old fathers.
I can’t believe your timing. I watched this video a few hours after it was posted and now Angel retired. After watching this I kind of feel bad for the guy. Did he make some bad calls - yes but he was going what everyone strives to do - get better as they get more experience. He may have not been perfect but apparently according to his fellow umpires is one of the nicest human beings around. Hopefully one day this channel can interview him in long form.
The fact the me makes a vid about Paul Skenes, 1 day later he gets called up. Now he makes a vid abt Angel Hernandez, and 1 day later he retires. Bro predicted the future twice!
He probably has inside information. MLB usually doesn't allow youtubers to use MLB footage. It's very likely that they tell him stuff. His channel is good for baseball and they accepted him
Angel Hernandez is an inspiration to blind children everywhere, a testament to the indomitable human spirit that refuses to be limited by physical constraints. His story is one of resilience, determination, and the power of hope. Blind since birth, Angel never allowed his lack of sight to define his capabilities or restrict his aspirations. Instead, he embraced his unique perspective on the world, one not clouded by the visual distractions that often preoccupy those with sight. Angel's world is one of texture, sound, and nuanced perception, allowing him to experience life in a profoundly deep and meaningful way. From a young age, Angel displayed an exceptional talent for music. His acute sense of hearing enabled him to discern notes and rhythms with incredible precision, and he soon became a virtuoso pianist, his fingers dancing over the keys with a grace and confidence that belied his years. His performances, imbued with emotion and a palpable joy for life, have moved audiences to tears and inspired countless others to pursue their passions regardless of the obstacles they face. But Angel's influence extends beyond the concert hall. He is a vocal advocate for accessibility and inclusivity, working tirelessly to ensure that blind children have the same opportunities as their sighted peers. He visits schools and community centers, sharing his story and encouraging children to dream big. His message is clear: "Your only limit is your imagination." In a world that often focuses on limitations, Angel Hernandez stands as a beacon of possibility. His life is a reminder that with courage, perseverance, and a positive outlook, anyone can overcome adversity and achieve greatness. For blind children looking for a role model, Angel's journey is a source of endless inspiration, showing them that they, too, can reach for the stars and find their place in the world. Angel's story is not just about overcoming blindness; it's about shattering expectations and redefining what's possible. It's a narrative that resonates with all of us, sighted or not, for it speaks to the universal human experience of facing challenges and emerging stronger. Angel Hernandez, with his unwavering spirit and boundless optimism, is indeed an inspiration to us all.
A rare video that acknowledges how difficult umpiring is and defends an organization that really cant defend itself publically. They are always the punching bag. Its nice to see someone take their side for once.
I don't know about you guys but angel missed 161 calls in just 10 games in 2023. That doesn't just hurt Angel's reputation, that literally calls into question the credibility of the MLB. That the job is hard doesn't excuse letting emotional old men bumble around and mess it up - in fact, I'd argue the opposite is necessitated. Get us the young guys in there who are motivated to do a good job and don't hold emotional grudges against organizations or players. A computer will never hold a grudge. Good riddance, Angel! Great job ensuring that future umpires will be computers and not humans.
@@A38 Don't underestimate the value of veteran experience and wisdom. Not talking about Hernandez specifically here, but don't lump all older umpires together like that. It's a bit ageist
Thank you BDE for showing us how hard umpiring actually is! Those Ump Cam shots show how things like pitch movement and framing make calling Balls/Strikes pretty hard.
I think it was Jomboy Media that did this but I'm not 100%. They compared where Angel Hernandez sets up compared to Pat Hoberg who called a perfect game, Hernandez sets up in the same spot no matter what, where as the perfect game ump sets up so that he is right above the catchers target at all times, also Hernandez blinks a lot so he misses things.
The strike zone is not where the ball hits the mitt, it’s when it goes over the plate. Players move forward and back in the box for a reason, but the call is always made at the point it crosses the plate. You need to rethink what the strike zone actually is and what mlb explains it as.
Thank you for showing the pitch at 2:45. It’s amazing how many people don’t realize that those boxes on screen are faulty. I’m glad they added the ump cameras.
You missed the best part of Hernandez screwing up that play at the plate in the Mets/Braves game in 1999: supposedly, the reason he called the runner safe to end the game was that he had a ride to catch after the game or something and just wanted to get out of there. That moment sticks so badly in my memory.
Did the same thing awhile ago and got some nostalgia from some 90s games and holy fuck......the strike zone was like little league. Joe West got away with murder with how bad his calls were because he pretended to be a cowboy on his days off
I’m not a baseball analytics nerd so sorry if this is already a thing; when they grade umps on missed calls to rank them, they need to use a system that gives more points against corresponding with more egregious misses. If ump 1 misses 10 calls a game but they’re within an inch of the zone and ump 2 misses 5 a game but they’re all 5 inches from the zone, which is worse?
The FPV video shows that yes, calling balls and strikes is difficult. The difference is we don't have years of experience doing it and we're not getting paid $300,000 a year to do it. The reason why we're all mad at Angel is that the union protects him and people like him from getting fired for poor performance. He's got a massive ego and isn't willing to accept that he constantly makes mistakes. There's video evidence of him closing his eyes during the actual moments on a play he has to call happens. There's no reason he should still be out there.
I think it would be funny if they put Angel into MLB The Show 2025 video game cover. He’s so iconic that I know guys who only watch basketball know Angel
People gotta realize modern pitching is meant to deceive the batter with the most subtle of movements. The best pitchers throw 3 pitch combos where a 2 seam strike and a cutter ball only change direction across the plate.
He’s not the least accurate umpire, but he’s still one of the worst. He has a bad attitude. You pretty much never see him back down, apologize, take responsibility for a mistake, or admit he’s wrong. I’m no expert, but I think he needs to have more humility and be more professional from what I’ve seen of him.
Yep. There's a lot more to being a good umpire than just accuracy on balls and strikes. Even within pitch accuracy there is a range. If an umpire often misses a borderline call on the first pitch for a batter because he's adjusting to that batter's zone or whatever, he is going to have a bad accuracy rating in terms of number of missed calls. But in terms of both how much those calls missed by, and more importantly, how many missed calls in game changing situations (Calls a strikeout on a full count ball that would have walked in a run, etc). I think that's where Angel gets hus reputation - it's not just that he misses, he misses with the game on the line. Beimg stubborn about it doesn't help his case, either. A great example is Jim Joyce. He blew that call that took a perfect game away from a pitcher. He acknowledged that he blew it, clearly felt bad and the players loved him for it. Could you imagine Hernandez blowing a perfect game? Think he would EVER apologize and acknowledge it? I feel like he would get defensive, make excuses and hold a grudge against anyone who brought it up.
Regarding Pat Hoberg and the Red Sox: it's _almost_ like every close call makes one of the two teams mad, regardless of whether it's correct; it's _almost_ like every team is mad at every umpire all the time and behave like children because the outrage is performative and baseball gives players and coaches and fans permission to get spitting mad whenever they lose; it's _almost_ like ump abuse is normalized and nobody would ever tolerate that shit in _their_ workplace or from _their_ coworkers. None of this is to say that Angel Hernandez, or any other ump, doesn't have a responsibility to do a good job to the best of their abilities. It's just to say that screaming hatred, sending death threats, and generally behaving like a piece of shit towards someone because they thought a ball going 90 mph was an inch to the left of where it actually was is _maybe_ a bit of an overreaction. The robo umps can't come quick enough, not because they'll call every game and every pitch perfectly, but just so fans don't have anyone to hate.
Lol they'll then continue the umpire hate for no reason, they need something to bitch about. I will say as someone who calls games at a fairly high level a lot of it is how you handle the blow ups, stay calm and tell the coach that you hear his complaint and they usually stop vs going back at them
1:34 you forgot to mention it was a one run game with the bases loaded. And I wasn’t even mad about the loss. I was infuriated because I knew the umpire would face zero consequences for the screwup.
What consequences is the umpire supposed to face? That's like saying a batter is supposed to face consequences cuz they struck out in the bottom of the 9th with the tying run at third. The situation is irrelevant and you're not going to punish everyone for every mistake they make. It's a numbers game. If you hit .300 in the MLB you're doing great.
Not necessarily. The whole point of this video was to show that Hernandez is not the worst ump. He only gets that reputation because when he does make a wrong call, it goes viral compared to other umps who make worse overall calls but don't go viral. He's overhated because he's found himself in shitty positions. Not because he's actually just that bad. He's still below average but massively overhated due to things outside of his control
@@anonymousperson3023 the title is 'angel isn't actually bad' which he goes on to prove the opposite in the video. scoring better than 28% (lmao) of the others in your crew isn't a great point in the video's favor. the 'point' really loses its luster fast.
Do you know how HARD it is to get baseball social media to agree on anything? Like legit ANYTHING. Velo injuries, analytics, you name it - everyone has a poo to take. But you talk to players? hate him. Execs? Hate him. Coaches? Hate him. Media? Hate him. Fans? Hate him. Analytics nerds? Hate him. Old school dino bois? Hate him. I mean for the love of christ talk to most college umps and umpire union bros - and THEY WILL 1000% tell you he sucks. Everyone thinks he sucks. If they put out a vote TOMORROW- among all baseball humans it'd be like 98%-2% in favor of launching him into planet pluto. No one in baseball thinks he's good. Everyone wants him out. For once - EVERY_ONE agrees on a thing. Alas, no one can do anything about it. He's so bad.
Hey, thanks for doing a video like this. Umpires on all levels get constant hate and harassment for anything (including correct calls), so it's nice to see someone pick up a few stats and explain the grading system as well how umpires get up and down the major league system
Being a match official is never easy. Being an umpire in cricket I should know. Match officials whether a ref or umpire get the worst of it from players, coaches, managers and fans. It's a tuff job and u gotta be able to ignore the masses. I beg these ppl who always think they can do a better job than officials to step on the field and do wat we do
I think the issue isn't even his strike zone (which is, at its worst moments, atrocious), but just how many obvious calls he gets wrong. I feel it's fair to criticize the job the umpires do when you are an umpire as well, and have done the job and know what it takes; I've worked baseball games since 2007 in little league up to high school, so I get what it's like. Even have worked with a guy who is working in the minors right now before. It's true that getting to the majors is much more difficult as an umpire than a player, because there's fewer spots and unless someone retires, those spots rarely open up. And fan perception would lead us to believe the union is why more of them don't get demoted or fired for poor performance, unlike how it is in KBO where umpires get treated like players do and can be sent to the minors if they have a bad stretch. There's definitely worse umpires than Hernandez, like CB Bucknor and Joe West. My issue with it is just how frequently they seem to make the game about them. As an umpire, the last thing you want is to be noticed, because if they don't notice you, you did a great job. Missed calls will happen, it's part of the game, but owning up to your mistakes or giving an honest explanation to the coaches or players goes a long way over throwing a hissy fit and ejecting them for one minor comment, like we see happen too often. Some of them just need to get over themselves and stop trying to act like they're the star attraction.
It’s not the frequency of the calls, it’s the egregiousness of the calls. I cannot believe how hard this is for half of you content creators to get. Had to listen to 3 different baseball podcasts with people defending him based on frequency, and not on egregiousness.
Calling balls and strikes isn’t the only thing umpires should be judged on. Safe/out calls are also big (see that ALDS game), swing appeals (see Bryce Harper’s outburst), and other parts of the game like ejections must be considered when evaluating umpires.
I’ve never watched baseball but I’ve been a big fan of this channel for a few months. You inspired me to spontaneously go to a Braves game, and although I was super confused and don’t really understand the rules very well, it was a lot of fun. You’re doing a lot for the game, and I hope to attend more games and hopefully become less confused lol
This just proves Angel is a good umpire when it comes down to seeing balls and plays. And especially shows he's biased when it comes down to calling game changing calls. (I do though think the braves player was safe against the Mets tho👀)
You had me for a minute there. I was telling my coworker about this video and he disagreed. He's got a few years in new and was referencing 2001, which i don't remember, because i was 10. So i did some digging. I found an article complaining about him back in 2012, in which the author pointed to an incident from 1997. Nope, angel is horrible.
This is misleading. Everyone always just assumes the box strike zone is accurate. Look closely! Some of those zones are pretty small or not adjusted to the correct height. The eye in the sky is fallible and not as perfect as advertised. I’m not an advocate for Angel by any means, but most of the umps do a good job, but when they become a distraction to the game, they need to go!
To be fair, we have NO idea what angles AH was looking at during that replay. There’s a very good chance it was blatantly obvious it was a home run, even though it was on a smaller screen.
And now, less than 36 hours after this video came out, Passan is reporting that Angel is retiring effective immediately. Nice try BDE, better luck next time
Great video. I would like to see overhead or behind the plate video of those Texas/Houston calls...the tv box doesn't seem 100% accurate (as you've shown and can vary from one broadcast to another) but they always show the dot O where the catcher catches the ball...but where did the ball cross the plate? they sweep in a bit from right to left...is it possible they caught some of the plate? idk. oh well. also, anyone else think that younger Angel looks like John Bernthal? Not that anyone would want a movie about Angel Hernandez, Lol.
