MLB fans crushed umpire Junior Valentine after he made one of the worst strikeout calls we'll see this season
We’re a couple weeks into the 2024 MLB season, and the umpiring is already leaving much to be desired. Just this weekend, Angel Hernandez gifted the Blue Jays with a strikeout despite an illegal movement by Bowden Francis who stepped off the rubber. And it keeps getting worse.
On Monday, umpire Junior Valentine gave us one of the worst strikeout calls we’ll see all season.
With the Braves’ Marcell Ozuna at the plate in the fifth inning with the game tied against the Mets, Reed Garrett was the beneficiary of a strike-3 call despite his 96.4 mph sinker nearly hitting the dirt.
Ozuna and the Braves broadcast were justifiably in disbelief as the pitch was closer to the dirt than it was to the strike zone. And it’s never a good sign when the umpire falls from a frame that settled a full three feet above the actual pitch location.
As a whole, Valentine had a decent night behind the plate.
But that was the kind of missed call an automated strike zone (or a challenge system) would save us from. No wonder MLB fans ripped Valentine for the embarrassing call.