MLB star Bryce Harper loses it after absolutely horrendous strikeout call
Every baseball fan believes the umpires have it out against their favorite team, but Nationals fans may actually have a legitimate gripe against C.B. Bucknor.
Bucknor has been an MLB umpire since 1996 and the players have routinely ranked him as one of the game’s worst umpires.
In fact, he was voted as MLB’s worst umpire in 2003, 2006 and 2010 in a survey by the players.
Bucknor appears to have surged to the top (or bottom) of the leaderboard again this season, thanks in part to a terrible call Sunday against Bryce Harper. Bucknor called Harper out on strikes on an outside pitch that left the Home Run Derby champion in disbelief.
CB Bucknor y'all pic.twitter.com/0gJIrr8VCN
— Amherst Minutemen (@Minutemen_ball) July 22, 2018
After the strikeout, Harper appears to have a brief word with Bucknor before walking to his dugout with his hands raised to his helmet while he talks to himself.
A replay then shows Harper mouthing “That’s so bad!” while pacing in the dugout. Pitchcast seems to confirm Harper’s assessment as the fifth and final pitch was clearly outside of the strike zone.
At least this time a Nationals player was yelling at the umpire from the duguout instead of his own teammate as Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer did on Friday.
Even those on the Braves’ side of things knew that strikeout was bogus, as Atlanta’s color commentator called out Bucknor and referenced how bad he’s been over the years.
“It’s beyond belief how he is still in the league,” said analyst and former MLB player Joe Simpson. “He makes more mistakes than any umpire I’ve ever see in my life behind the plate.”
Bucknor has a history of bad calls against the Nationals and one only has to look at a game last year to see just that.
Coincidentally, Washington was also playing Atlanta in a game in which Jayson Werth of the Nationals somehow struck out without swinging at a single pitch. Yet none of the pitches thrown were in the strike zone.
Jayson Werth just struck out. Didn't swing at any pitch, yet somehow the umpire called 3 of these strikes… pic.twitter.com/5njgsP143q
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) April 19, 2017
Just as Harper let Bucknor hear it, Werth did the same but after that game. While the Nationals were celebrating their victory and going through their on-field handshakes, Werth was busy shouting at Bucknor and had to be restrained by teammates.
Harper and the Nationals were able to overcome Bucknor’s bizarro strike zone on Sunday as they prevailed 6-2.
Harper also hit a home run in the eighth inning, his first since winning the Home Run Derby in the same ballpark.
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