Being an umpire at any level, but in particular in Major League Baseball, is a difficult and often thankless job. You are tasked with making split-second decisions on bang-bang plays on the bases or at the plate. And for home plate umpires, you are asked to call balls and strikes on pitches with incredible velocity and mind-bending movement, all in the blink of an eye.
MLB umpire made a call so bad it froze everyone
HOW was this a ball?
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
It is not easy. A few years ago, The New York Times put together a quick game titled “You Be the Ump,” asking you to call balls and strikes on a series of virtual pitches. Many tried. Most failed.
But some pitches are easier to call than others.
That brings us to Monday night’s game between the Baltimore Orioles and the visiting Toronto Blue Jays. With the Orioles leading 6-3 in the top of the fourth inning, Toronto infielder Ernie Clement dug into the batter’s box to face Baltimore starter Zach Eflin.
After Eflin started Clement with a sinker on the inside that was called a ball, he delivered another sinker in the second pitch of the at-bat right down the heart of the plate.
For ball two.
You can see that pitch here:
Home plate umpire Brian Walsh called that pitch a ball, leading to an extended reaction from the Orioles’ broadcast booth as well as several fans at Camden Yards. Come on! Wait a minute, wait a minute,” said Orioles play-by-play announcer KevinBrown. “That’s literally right down the middle.”
“My goodness. What is going on at home plate?” added former pitcher Ben McDonald. “Brian Walsh, man … I mean, you couldn’t set it on a tee in the heart of the plate any better than that. How do you miss that? Get that right arm going Brian.”
Clement singled later in the at-bat and scored to cut Baltimore’s lead to 6-4. While the Orioles went on to win, this call certainly stands out.
As for how it might have happened, one can speculate how Walsh missed this one. Before the pitch, catcher Adley Rutschman set up outside, well off the plate. But Eflin’s sinker — which again was right down the middle — forced Rutschman to come back inside with his body and his glove.
Walsh, who was set up right down the middle, still should have seen where this pitch was, but you can understand if the movement from the catcher led him to believe the pitch was inside.
Still, this is how Statcast diagrammed this pitch:
Again, calling balls and strikes is not easy. (As an aside, there’s a reason I beg off calling balls and strikes any time the teams I coach encounter an umpire shortage. I don’t need that smoke anymore.)
But this pitch is one even I could have gotten right.
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