To say Ian Kinsler has a bone to pick with Angel Hernandez would be an understatement.
Hernandez, the home plate umpire in Monday’s Detroit Tigers-Texas Rangers game, ejected Kinsler in the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes. The Tigers second baseman said his piece to Hernandez on the field Monday, but his harshest criticisms actually came the following day. Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Kinsler essentially said Hernandez should quit his job.
“I’m surprised at how bad an umpire he is,” Kinsler said via The Detroit News. “I don’t know how, for as many years he’s been in the league, that he can be that bad. He needs to reevaluate his career choice, he really does. Bottom line.”
Kinsler’s thoughts on Hernandez apparently outweighed any fear of discipline from Major League Baseball.
“If I get fined for saying the truth, then so be it,” Kinsler added. “He’s messing with baseball games, blatantly. … This has to do with changing the game. He’s changing the game. He needs to find another job. He really does.”
To clarify, Hernandez isn’t just some rookie ump — he made his major league umping debut in 1991 and has worked two World Series, seven League Championship Series and eight League Division Series. Does Kinsler think Hernandez just holds a bias against him?
“No,” Kinsler said. “He’s just that bad.”
Hernandez had the chance to respond through a pool reporter Tuesday night after the Rangers’ 10-4 win over Detroit, and he didn’t sound too concerned with Kinsler’s harsh critique.
“As a matter of fact, I don’t even care what he said,” Hernandez told the pool reporter. “What I care about is going out there and doing my job, to the best I can do.”
Thumbnail photo via Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports Images
