Seattle Mariners: Julio Rodriguez is the poster boy for automation
Are automated balls and strikes on the way to MLB? The way Seattle Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez is being treated by the umpires, it can’t come soon enough.
In what should be a triumphant rookie campaign, Seattle Mariners phenom Julio Rodriguez is struggling. It’s not all his fault. He’s been the victim of several botched called strikes when clearly they weren’t strikes at all. His situation is part of a mounting case as to why calling balls and strikes should be automated.
National Spotlight
Before getting into J-Rod specifically, the overall issue of balls and strikes was center stage and under glaring lights on Sunday night. Philadelphia’s first baseman Kyle Schwarber put on quite a show when he went bat-crap crazy after striking out looking in the bottom of the ninth in a one-run game on national television.
The much-maligned Angel Hernandez was the umpire who rung him up on a pitch located a couple of inches off the black. Josh Hader, the closer for the Brewers, was the beneficiary. And as pitchers know, a pitch that can be called a strike when it’s not is the spot they throw to.
Hernandez has been shunned socially, as well as critically held in contempt of competitive baseball for years. Yet MLB has done nothing. He might single-handedly be the reason for the automatic strike zone. And he’s in complete denial. In July 2017, Hernández filed an ultimately unsuccessful federal lawsuit against MLB.
He alleged that racial discrimination (Hernandez is of Cuban descent) kept him from being promoted to crew chief and from umpiring World Series games. Never mind 30 years of incompetency.
Hernandez is by far the worst offender. If it were just him, that’s one thing, but the issue is symptomatic across Major League baseball.