No one could believe ‘Christmas gift’ Orioles on strike call
Juan Soto isn’t the only superstar to have a problem with Emil Jimenez’s strike zone.
Just a few days after Jimenez rang up Juan Soto on a pitch that was inches above the strike zone, the home-plate umpire did almost the exact same thing to Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs on Saturday.
As with Soto and the Mets, the Cubs’ broadcast crew reacted with incredulity in the bottom of the fifth inning during the matinee with the Orioles.
“Bad call there. I’m sure right about now, Jimenez realizes he missed this one,” Jim Deshaies of Marquee Sports Network said. “That’s egregious. That’s horrible.”
Even the Orioles broadcast didn’t hold back.
“Top shelf and then some,” Kevin Brown said on MASN. “Emil Jimenez with a Christmas gift.”
According to UmpScorecards, Jimenez has been 1.1 percent more accurate than expected this season with a 94.7 percent accuracy rate. With 94.4 percent consistency, he’s right around league average there as well.
Two high-profile missed calls on balls that came in high, though, is a concerning trend for Jimenez, who has just two years of service time in the majors.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
