Yankees manager Aaron Boone went viral on Monday night for his animated argument with umpire Laz Diaz and subsequent ejection. While Boone certainly lost his cool and has a reputation for doing so, it turns out he had a point about Diaz’s strike zone.
In the eighth inning, with New York trailing the White Sox, 2–1, Anthony Volpe was called out on strikes after looking at a pitch on the outside corner, prompting Boone to come out of the dugout and argue with Diaz.
That particular pitch—a sinker that broke back over the plate—was actually a strike, but that doesn’t mean that Boone didn’t have a point.
As this graphic from Umpire Scorecards shows, Diaz made numerous erroneous strike calls. Only 66% of the pitches Diaz called strikes were actually in the strike zone. On average, umpires get 88% of those calls correct.
Umpire: Laz Diaz
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) August 8, 2023
Final: Yankees 1, White Sox 5#RepBX // #WhiteSox#NYYvsCWS // #CWSvsNYY
More stats for this game 👇https://t.co/7VIQZpnDj3 pic.twitter.com/VVQPo0vHIs
The graphic also makes it clear exactly how Diaz was missing the calls. He expanded his zone well off the righthand side of the plate, which is exactly what Boone was arguing when he got ejected. At one point, Boone drew a line in the dirt on the right side of the plate, apparently to show Diaz where the pitches were missing.
Diaz did at least keep the zone consistent for both teams, but the White Sox benefited more from his erroneous calls than the Yankees did, to the tune of an estimated 1.59 runs, according to Umpire Scorecards. With the Yankees’ playoff hopes dwindling, it’s easy to see why Boone was so upset.
