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Another Major League Baseball season is in the books, and the league has moved one step closer to robot umpires. Thanks to a new “highlight” reel of some of the worst calls of the season, it’s easy to see why.

The popular Umpire Auditor X account posted Tuesday about the number and severity of tracked missed calls in the 2024 regular season. Somehow, there were an astonishing 27,336 missed calls by umpires, 1,637 of which resulted in a strikeout. 

And take a wild guess who was responsible for the worst missed call of the season. None other than a now-retired legend, Angel Hernandez. 

Hernandez’ track record and reputation is well known, but it’s still impressive for him to have the worst call of the season in a year where he retired on May 9. It was a very, very bad call. The Umpire Auditor account showed the 10 largest missed called strikeouts, with the majority falling within 4-5 inches of the plate. Inexcusable misses, sure, but they paled in comparison to Angel. In a now-infamous at bat against Texas Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford, Hernandez called him out on a pitch that missed outside…by nearly 7 inches.  

Angel Hernandez

May 1, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA;  Home plate umpire Angel Hernandez during the game between the Houston Astros and the Cleveland Guardians at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

MLB Umpires Have Lots Of Work To Do To Clean Up Mistakes

It’s no wonder why Hernandez last worked a game May 9 before “retiring.” That call, that entire at-bat, showed why Hernandez was one of baseball’s least popular umpires. Ego, insanely bad calls and bewildering innings where he seemed to completely lose track of the strike zone.

When fans see 27,000+ missed calls, it’s obvious why interest in robot umpires continues to grow. Though robot umps, or a challenge system, have plenty of negatives of their own. 

MLB’s made massive strides with increased attendance, viewership and fan interest thanks to speeding up game times and pace of play. Having pitch challenges could give back some of that progress, as delays for reviews could push game times back up.

Still, this level of absurdity isn’t acceptable. Whatever the solution, something has to be done to stop incompetent calls from impacting games. Clearly, forcing Hernandez out isn’t going to be enough.