Noted bad umpire, Ángel Hernández blows a couple easy ones, a breakdown
What Happened
During a Royals-Indians game in 2021, Salvador Perez lined a ball into right-center with runners on second and third and one out. The ball dropped between the Cleveland outfielders, but umpire Angel Hernandez signaled out well after the fact, calling it a catch. Confusion erupted: baserunner Andrew Benintendi was sent back toward second and tagged out, players and coaches stood around baffled, and the crew eventually huddled to award Benintendi third base and erase the out. Later in the same game, Hernandez rang up Jose Ramirez on a close infield dribbler that replay overturned to safe.
Why This Matters
Two blown calls in one game is the kind of thing that follows an umpire, and Hernandez has built a reputation for exactly that. The Perez play is interesting because it wasn't a strike-zone judgment, it was a basic catch/no-catch read that every player on the field got right instantly. That distinction matters: it's the type of call umpires are supposed to nail without replay. The cleanup, moving Benintendi to third, showed the crew improvising to undo damage rather than a clean ruling. The Ramirez overturn just piled on. Context makes it sharper: Hernandez had sued MLB alleging discrimination over being passed over for the World Series since 2005 and for crew chief, and MLB's response essentially argued he lacked the situational skills for high-pressure roles. Games like this became Exhibit A.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Ángel Hernández, Salvador Perez. Teams: Royals.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentwe got the royals playing the indians
there's runners on second and third and
one
out for perez who pokes that one deep
into right center field they're tracking
it down they're tracking out who's gonna
get it i got it you take it
drops in between them so they gotta fire
it in one run's gonna score oh he drops
the ball so Ben and attendees go oh
now the runner is going back to second
and now he's getting tagged down he's
like wait
what what hap what and then
rusty koontz is like wha what happened
what and
and matthini's like what happened what
and umps are like
angel do you know what happened and
Angel Hernandez is like
i think i know what happened here guys
what happened was
i got the call wrong so you can see the
ball drops
both runners take off all the players
act as if it got dropped but
Angel Hernandez way after the fact i
mean look how after the fact this is
the ball is in the air it's in the air
it's
dropped okay at this point the ball's on
the ground you can see both runners see
that it was not caught and angel
hernandez says
out so he calls it out says that the
ball was caught so now the third base
coach is like hey you gotta go back to
second gotta go back to second he called
it out he called it up go back to second
so he tells benny to go back to second
and now benny's getting tagged out and
all the other umpires were like well
he's out
what happened and Angel Hernandez is
just walking back
to his position like oh boy i hope this
is bad so what they did is they were
like hey sorry
our buddy angel got that call wrong Ben
and tandy we're just gonna put you on
third base and take away that out and
frank cohn is like what are you talking
about
what happened an angel says well here's
the thing man i blew the call
so now we got to make up for it and
frank conan was like but why'd you blow
the call and he's like well
you see everyone else saw the obvious
but i didn't
later on in the game jose ramirez hits
that dribbler
to third and then he beats it out angel
says
you're out and ramirez says uh no i'm
not i'll just hang out here
looking all cool you can go enjoy your
time watching replay because my
was safe and that's pretty easy to call
because you're supposed to be
professional and the best at the best of
calling these things so he puts on the
headset
and they immediately tell him like hey
angel you get it wrong again he goes
safe
jose ramirez is like yeah that's what i
[ __ ] thought man
if you don't know who Angel Hernandez is
well he
sued mlb because he said that he's been
discriminated against because he had not
been assigned to the world series since
2005
and have been passed over for crew chief
now mlb
responded to that to the judge and said
uh
he has not been discriminated against he
just [ __ ] sucks
he has not demonstrated the leadership
ability and situation management skills
in critical high pressure roles on a
consistent basis
aka he's a bad umpire but the union
protects him so he can't get rid of him
that's Angel Hernandez