Why is Angel Hernandez a controversial umpire? An insight into the veteran's career

On Monday night, Angel Hernandez, who has been serving in the MLB since 1991, confirmed his retirement news, citing spending more time with his loved ones.

Looking back at his career, Hernandez didn't command respect among MLB players and coaches. That may be in part due to missed calls behind the plate, confronting players more often than not or making unwarranted ejections.

His controversial nature is strongly backed by opinions from several MLB players who have gone on camera to call out his under-par umpiring.

In Game 3 of the 2018 American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, Hernandez saw three of his calls get overturned, resulting in a hot take by Pedro Martinez:

“Angel was horrible," he said. “Don’t get me going on Angel now. Major League Baseball needs to do something about Angel. It doesn’t matter how many times he sues Major League Baseball, he’s as bad as there is."

Another future Hall of Famer also took shots at the Cuban umpire during that series:

“I don’t understand why he’s doing these games. He’s always bad. He’s a bad umpire," Yankees' CC Sabathia said.

Earlier on April 12, Texas Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford was called out on three consecutive strikes, all of which were balls as per ABS. Angel Hernandez's inconsistent strike zone has long been a matter of discussion, especially in close games.

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Angel Hernandez once sued MLB for racial discrimination

The Cuban native filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the MLB, claiming that he was passed over as crew chief and World Series assignments because of his race.

However, the lawsuit was thrown out in 2021, and the appeals court upheld the decision in 2023.

“Hernandez has failed to establish a statistically significant disparity between the promotion rates of white and minority umpires,” the appeals court said in its statement.

“MLB has provided persuasive expert evidence demonstrating that, during the years at issue, the difference in crew chief promotion rates between white and minority umpires was not statistically significant. Hernandez offers no explanation as to why MLB’s statistical evidence is unreliable.”

Despite his notorious nature, which has landed him in disputes over the years, Angel Hernandez served the league for 33 years. Over the weekend, the MLB and the 62-year-old reached a financial settlement, per USA Today Sports.