Worst MLB umpires: Ranking the 4 shakiest game-callers in baseball after Angel Hernandez's retirement

MLB fans rejoiced Monday when much-maligned umpire Angel Hernandez announced his retirement from the league, effective immediately.

Hernandez had been an MLB umpire since 1991 but became known for his inconsistency behind the plate and in the field. He was frequently the subject of controversial calls that earned him criticism from baseball fans and players as well.

"I don't think Angel Hernandez should be umping playoff games," C.C. Sabathia once famously said while with the Yankees. "He's absolutely terrible. He was terrible behind the plate today, he's terrible at first base. It's amazing how he's getting a job to umpire in these playoff games."

Hernandez wasn't just noted for his inconsistency. He was also involved in numerous ejections from players reacting to his missed calls. That included some legendary blow-ups from the likes of Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Ian Kinsler, the latter of whom was ejected merely for looking at the umpire the wrong way.

Indeed, those calls — and the double-downs on them that characterized Hernandez's career — made him one of the most vilified of MLB's umpires.

But was Hernandez the league's worst behind the plate? The data showcases that at least a few MLB umpires had worse starts to the 2024 season than the now-retired Hernandez.

MORE: Breaking down the most controversial calls of Angel Hernandez's career

Angel Hernandez stats

Hernandez was among MLB's least-accurate umpires, according to Umpire Scorecards. The website — which tracks the pitches called by each game-caller behind the plate and how it compares to the expected strike zone — gave him a pitch-calling accuracy of just 93.2 percent, ranked 67th among the 85 umpires to call games thus far in 2024.

However, Hernandez ranked just 70th in the site's consistency metric with a mark of 93 percent. His expected correct call differential of -5.5 earned him a bottom-10 mark across the league.

Below is a full look at Hernandez's stats and ranks among other MLB umpires, per Umpire Scorecards.

Suffice to say that Hernandez struggled during his eight games behind the plate during the 2024 MLB season. But a handful of other umpires have struggled more than him a third of the way through the season.

MORE: CC Sabathia has comical reaction to Angel Hernandez's retirement

Worst MLB umpires of 2024

A handful of umpires ranked worse than Hernandez in all three of the most notable umpiring categories. Below is a breakdown of the bottom 10 umpires by each key stat:

Accuracy

Consistency

Expected correct call differential

MORE: A complete timeline of injuries from Ronald Acuna Jr.'s career after ACL tear

While the consistency metric is a bit more open for variance, Bucknor, Gonzalez, Marquez and Wendelstedt all rank bottom-five in accuracy and expected correct call differential. Not only are they not calling pitches correctly, but they are also missing pitches that should be easy for them to get.

As such, they should currently be considered the four worst umpires in the league.

CB Bucknor headlines worst MLB umpires in 2024

Below is a full look at each's key stats and ranks. The umpires are listed alphabetically be last name.

Perhaps this quartet will turn it around with a larger sample size. If not, one of those veteran game-callers may soon find himself absorbing some of the attention that used to be paid to Hernandez.