Harrison Bader was certain he struck out before the ump called ball on a pitch down the middle

At every level of baseball, hitters are told to let the umpires make the call. You never want to make an assumption on a would-be ball 4 and have an umpire take it personally, ruling the pitch a strike.

But you almost never see the reverse happen with an apparent strikeout going the other way.

During the second inning of Sunday’s game between the Red Sox and Yankees, center fielder Harrison Bader was convinced that Nick Pivetta’s 0-2 fastball caught the zone. And well, he was correct. The pitch was right down the middle, but home plate umpire Junior Valentine saw it differently. He called the pitch a ball as Bader was already making his walk back to the dugout.

This call was so bad even Harrison Bader thought he struck out and starting walking back to the dugout 😂 pic.twitter.com/NRguGXCw9J

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 20, 2023

Hey, at least Bader was being honest. But man, what a rough call from Valentine.

Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire made the call more difficult than it needed to be by setting up high and reaching down to catch the ball without much of a frame. Yet, a big-league umpire still should have been able to see a fastball down the middle like that.

The missed call didn’t make a difference as Bader struck out swinging a couple pitches later. Still, fans thought the reaction was hilarious. Bader was just so surprised about the call.

This was how Twitter reacted

This is so bad 😂 https://t.co/TawtpxlqeW

— Furnace (@Furnacepicks) August 20, 2023

Teams shouldn’t take the field in 2024 if robo umps aren’t in place. This has been the absolute worst year for home plate umpiring https://t.co/pEYfPg0UaU

— Blue Bell Scoreboard (@OlsenScoreboard) August 20, 2023

Making Angel proud… https://t.co/EjsvCCDTZl

— TheSportsGuy (@SportsGuyMedia) August 20, 2023

I love this… There's so much to unpack from Bader, Pivetta, and McGuire's body languages… 😂 https://t.co/W6xW1Txl9O

— DoctorBobble (@DoctorBobble) August 20, 2023

Nobody was more surprised than Harrison Bader lmaoo

pic.twitter.com/A8FAfsgdKH

— Keith (@keithps22) August 20, 2023

NOOOO THE UMPIRE DID NOT JUST CALL THIS A BALL FOR HARRISON BADER 💀💀 pic.twitter.com/rmWwa3o9kI

— Kyle (@ImKyleMangum) August 20, 2023

There was an umpire in my mentions last week telling me that catcher framing isn’t real because a good umpire wouldn’t get fooled 😂😂 https://t.co/FoliuDKCHG

— Robert Stock (@RobertStock6) August 20, 2023

Every single player involved knew it was the third strike except for the umpire 😂. Bader reaction is priceless. https://t.co/wOriVP8Jy2

— Simón (@Elportuguej) August 20, 2023

Too middle middle https://t.co/4P3PPrFUCA

— marco (@Marcos_Island) August 20, 2023