Angel Hernandez wrote in a filing to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that MLB has manipulated performance reviews of Hernandez, and other minorities, in an effort to make them look worse.
Hernandez added in the filing that MLB then uses those negative performance reviews against umpires as decisions are made over crew chief designations.
The filing is the latest in Hernandez’s appeal to a discrimination case that had been thrown out by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by Hon. J Paul Oetken in March 2021.
Hernandez’s lawsuit contends MLB has been discriminatory in its practices of hiring umpires, and pointed out that before the suit was initially filed, Richie Garcia was the only minority permanent crew chief in the 150-plus-year history of the league. He also highlighted how MLB fails to select minority umpires for World Series assignments.
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Hernandez wrote in the filing that from 2006-09, he received 24 “exceeds standards” ratings for games with only one “does not meet,” which came back in 2006. He wrote that his accuracy calling balls and strikes behind the plate received “exceeds standards” each season.
During his midseason umpire evaluation reports, Hernandez wrote that from 2011-16, he had nine “exceeds standards” and had two “does not meet,” though one he said was given incorrectly by MLB. However, Hernandez said his year-end reviews were worse than his midseason reports, saying he had only four “exceeds standards” ratings from 2011-16, and he did not have any from 2013-15.
“A review of Mr. Hernandez’s Year-End Evaluations and his UERs for the years 2011-2016 reveals that MLB manipulated Mr. Hernandez’s year-end evaluations in order to make his job performance appear worse than it actually was,” Hernandez wrote in the filling. “Mr. Hernandez’s Year-End Evaluations for the 2011-2016 seasons do not even come close to accurately summarizing Mr. Hernandez’s actual performance in those seasons.”
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Hernandez later described the findings as “evidence that MLB was manipulating performance evaluations of Mr. Hernandez and other minority umpires to make their performances look worse.”
Writing about the district court’s decision to throw out the case, Hernandez said the court did not follow precedent for pools of individuals that are too small for statistically significant conclusions, consider how MLB manipulated performance reviews or how MLB showed disparate treatment toward Hernandez.
MLB did not respond to The Athletic’s request for comment, but The Athletic noted that the league has previously denied discrimination toward minorities and said Hernandez has not been promoted to crew chief or received World Series assignments due to his lack of leadership.
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Hernandez has drawn criticism from the public — and from players and managers — for his inconsistency. According to Ump Scorecards, Hernandez has the 10th worst balls-and-strikes accuracy rate among umpires.
Kevin Murphy, Hernandez’s lawyer, told The Athletic his umpire evaluation forms are under a protective order from the lower court that prevent him from sharing the statistic analysis on his balls, strikes and replays.
“Take this year for instance. Angel missed his first call the other day in two months,” Murphy told The Athletic. “The guy’s got an awful lot of courage. Doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t whine. He’s taking a lot of unnecessary wrongful abuse. And I just hope the Second Circuit gives us a chance to air it out in the courtroom.”
MLB will have 30 to 45 days to respond to Hernandez’s filing before the court will schedule an oral argument or make a ruling based on the documentation that has been filed.