The 2024 Major League Baseball season has not even been underway for a month, but we’ve already had more than a few glaring mistakes by umpires. And we had another one this weekend on the very first pitch of Saturday’s game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals.
On the first pitch of the game, Royals starter Cole Ragans threw a fastball right down the middle of the plate, but home plate umpire Ryan Blakney somehow didn’t see it that way and called the pitch a ball.
It was clearly a major mistake from the umpire and even the commentators couldn’t help but blast him for it.
The first pitch of Saturday's Orioles-Royals game, right after Bally Sports Kansas City introduces the umpiring crew….
"Fastball is right down the middle for ball one."
"What?! My goodness! Not on pitch one!"
"What part of that pitch is not a strike?" ⚾️👮♂️🎙️ pic.twitter.com/gsknnwkNUc
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 21, 2024
“Fastball is right down the middle for ball one,” the commentator said.
“What?! My goodness! Not on pitch one!” the other commentator replied.
“What part of that pitch is not a strike?” the first commentator responded.
The good news is that the missed call did not impact the game or even the at-bat. Following the missed call, Ragans threw three straight strikes to strike out Orioles’ shortstop Gunnar Henderson.
But even if the call didn’t impact the game, it was still quite clearly incorrect and undoubtedly will not silence the chorus of fans calling for automated balls and strikes.
