Stop me if you've heard this before, a terrible display of MLB umpiring directly effected an important baseball game last night. The Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers were trading heavy blows in the closely contested game yesterday, but all fans (and the Braves broadcast booth) could talk about was the poor job done behind the dish.
The zone got so bad that Atlanta manager Brian Snitker was ejected for arguing the zone in the bottom of the fifth. It's rare for Snitker to get ejected, so that in itself tells you how bad Brian Walsh was last night.
Home plate umpire Brian Walsh’s is putting on quite the show through 5+ innings in Braves vs. Brewers – 87.79% accuracy on balls and strikes (missed 16 calls).
— Noah Griffith (@NoahGG01) August 8, 2024
This is what it took for Brian Snitker to get his first ejection of the year. pic.twitter.com/PvonE1VAP9
Walsh ranks as one of the least accurate and consistent umpires in baseball
The great people over at Umpire Scorecards on X (formerly known as Twitter) do a great job at rounding up data from every home plate umpire in every game throughout the season. At this point of the season we have enough data to know which umpires grade best thanks to their efforts. To the surprise of no one, last night's umpire Brian Walsh is really bad at calling balls and strikes.
According to the Ump Scorecard data available on their website, Walsh is the seventh least consistent (92.8%) umpire in MLB. Walsh also ranks ninth worst out of 90 possible umpires in ball/strike accuracy. Those numbers give a little explanation why the Braves saw so many calls like the one below.
Brian Snitker got ejected after this pitch was called a strike on Jorge Soler. pic.twitter.com/9Jw8zLUwEK
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) August 8, 2024
It's not just that Walsh was missing calls, it's that he was missing calls in big spots. And unfortunately, the calls always seemed to go the Brewers way. Those high-leverage missed calls explains why the final scorecard will swing so heavily in the Brew Crew's favor.
Umpire Brian Walsh missed 20 calls in the Braves Brewers game and 14 went against the Braves.
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) August 8, 2024
Walsh missed two consecutive calls to Jorge Soler and ejected manager Brian Snitker for arguing.
Walsh is ranked 75th of 90 umpires this season.#Braves #Brewers pic.twitter.com/IlN3ccS8HS
That's why Brian Snitker was correct in reacting the way he did. Tough times and a tough performance from Brian Walsh made up the perfect storm to lead to Brian Snitker's ejection. Maybe John Smoltz should've been behind the plate last night.
Tensions are quite high in Atlanta given the hard times the team is currently dealing with. When things are going against you, added on poor umpiring can lead to the reactions you saw numerous times from the Braves dugout.
Regardless, Atlanta needs to figure out things fast or they will miss the playoffs entirely. Hopefully, Snit can rally the guys to give an inspired performance tonight. Let's just hope the Braves don't have to overcome the home plate umpiring as well.