Being a hitter at the major league level is hard enough, thanks to so man pitchers throwing just ridiculously filthy stuff, but it’s even harder when umpires can’t do their jobs correctly and routinely put players in difficult situations with bad calls.
Nobody likely knows more about that than Detroit Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who has seen a large number of pitches outside the zone get called for strikes against him this season.
Torkelson, who has 103 hits and 21 home runs on the year, should send the video below to the powers that be in MLB and ask for an apology, because this collection of bad calls against him is brutal to watch:
It's not like they all got together and decided to make Spencer Torkelson's strike zone wider but maybe they did. pic.twitter.com/TZihzQaXw5
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 16, 2023
Here's more proof that he’s getting worked by the umps this season:
Torkelson has had 34 called strikes outside of the zone this year already. For reference, he had 19 called against him in 2022.
— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) August 16, 2023
He is a guy who likes to get his hands moving then shut it down when he takes. There's correlation between check swings and more missed ump calls. https://t.co/ri9P1JUXxi
That all just doesn’t seem fair.
MLB fans agreed:
Absurd https://t.co/m3HX9Sn5sO
— Donquixote Rosinante (@MidorimaS6) August 16, 2023
This is just sad. Enough bad calls to make a 30 second video https://t.co/pSf6NX5cek
— SBR (@SportsBetRyann) August 16, 2023
Good god https://t.co/LN0dM8Ylq2
— Spencer (@Scarlson29) August 16, 2023
This is criminal. https://t.co/4kLTQobLuH
— Melvin (@MelvinIzzoIII) August 16, 2023
Nothing worse than knowing it’s a ball - being correct - but being wrong cause the ump said so 🗑️ the discipline of a hitter is one of the most key ingredients ✔️ https://t.co/dEORHzG5l4
— Anthony Rodgers (@ajr010891) August 16, 2023
The umpire is standing inner half Avery single clip. I understand it’s “safer” for them but at the same time it drastically changes what looks like it crosses the plate. It’s ridiculous https://t.co/QYp4jvDmm9
— Minion (@collegesportsTB) August 16, 2023
Cannot believe we still use humans to call balls and strikes https://t.co/xRx6TKDrPE
— Luke Ghiardi (@LukeGhiardi) August 16, 2023
I cannot imagine how frustrating it has been for Tork... He gets punished for plate discipline AND gets terrible luck when he barrels one https://t.co/4rpQRW550D
— Matt Houston (@BallUHouston) August 16, 2023
