Chicago Cubs catcher Tucker Barnhart stands 5-foot-11. And while he bends his knees some in his batting stance, it stands to reason that any pitch close to Barnhart’s eye level should be called a ball. But one was not on Thursday night.
Barnhart dug in for a fifth-inning at-bat against Pittsburgh Pirates reliever, José Hernández. Hernández’s first two offerings to Barnhart were balls and it seemed as though his 2-0 pitch was, as well.
Only, umpire Brian Walsh called the pitch a strike. And while some bad calls can be debated or even defended, this was a different story.
"That's where the ball was, that high?"
"The Levin Furniture Mattress strike zone must be mistaken. Because it wasn't that high. It couldn't have been that high, or it wouldn't have been called a strike."
A call so bad the announcers are questioning the graphics. pic.twitter.com/s04qbMPgdO
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 16, 2023
And despite the second-guessing of AT&T SportsNet announcers Greg Brown and especially Bob Walk, the graphic was indeed, correct. The call was just that bad.
This was called a strike. 🤖🤖🤖 pic.twitter.com/GpQVxqdSMN
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) June 16, 2023
The graphic looks right to me pic.twitter.com/kc9VyUzMYP
— Rfreese (@Rtfreese) June 16, 2023
Fortunately for Walsh, the missed call was of little consequence. Hernández’s next two offerings both missed the strike zone and were correctly called as balls. So Barnhart walked anyway.
Still, the timing couldn’t have been much worse.
Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that Commissioner Rob Manfred suggested that MLB was unlikely to implement the Automatic Ball-Strike System — or ABS — in 2024. This is despite its use and relative success at Triple-A.
The clamoring for robot umpires has increased every season. Calls like this will only make those wishes louder and more common. If that continues to happen, Manfred and Major League Baseball will essentially be forced into action.
[Photo Credit: AT&T SportsNet]
