The Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night dropped a taut 1-0 contest to the visiting Milwaukee Brewers and in doing so slipped to 6-10 on the young season. Compounding frustrations for the Phillies was the erratic strike zone of home plate umpire Angel Hernandez, who's perhaps the most heavily criticized ump working in the sport right now.
Kyle Schwarber's ejection in the bottom of the ninth inning distilled the frustrations on both sides with regard to Hernandez's ball-strike decisions:
Kyle Schwarber was not happy with this called third strike. pic.twitter.com/WSjs5LyYDQ
— ESPN (@espn) April 25, 2022
Indeed, a postgame review of Hernandez's zone revealed that it came close to providing the margin of defeat for Philly:
Umpire: Angel Hernandez
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) April 25, 2022
Final: Brewers 1, Phillies 0#ThisIsMyCrew // #RingTheBell#MILvsPHI // #PHIvsMIL pic.twitter.com/x38zUGrU5E
Particularly troubling is that Hernandez's called strikes were accurate just 77 percent of the time versus an MLB umpire's average figure of 88 percent. One of his worst calls was at the expense of Jean Segura, who came up with one out and the bases loaded in the fifth:
This pitch to Jean Segura was 6.44 inches off the plate@umpjob pic.twitter.com/lRyd0ZIcTS
— MLB Sabermetrics (@GleyberMetrics) April 25, 2022
Not surprisingly, Phillies manager Joe Girardi was displeased by Hernandez's work on Sunday. Afterward, here's how he responded to being asked whether he favors automating ball-strike calls -- i.e., the so-called "robot ump" (via Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia):
"Well, I wouldn't mind it. I wouldn't. I've always thought that umpires should be behind the pitcher. I think you're much better there and you're more protected. (When behind the plate) they have to move to the side a little bit because they can't have 20 concussions. It's their livelihood, too, and I understand why they do it.
"It's not an easy job. It isn't. That's why I'm kind of for the automated strike zone. It takes some of it off them."
Worth noting, however, is that Schwarber says he opposes an automated strike zone.
The good news for Girardi and other advocates of such a system is that the automated zone appears to be working its way to the majors. After being tested for three seasons in independent ball and then the Low-A level, the automated zone this season is being used in some Triple-A ballparks. That trajectory suggests it's a matter of time before the system reaches the highest level.