Ian Kinsler Says Umpire Angel Hernandez Is Ruining Baseball Games After Ejection

Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler called out Angel Hernandez a day after being ejected, saying the veteran umpire is "ruining baseball games." 

"No, I’m surprised at how bad an umpire he is,” Kinsler told reporters Tuesday. “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.”

Hernandez tossed Kinsler in the fifth inning of Monday's game against the Texas Rangers for arguing balls and strikes. The pair had an exchange on the first two pitches of Kinsler's at bat, and replays showed Hernandez miscalled a first strike.

“If I get fined for saying the truth, then so be it," Kinsler said. "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.”

Kinsler said he does not feel Hernandez is biased against him but is simply "just that bad." He did, however, recall one instance of his rookie year where Hernandez shouted at him for getting into his plane of vision on a ground ball out.

“He started screaming at me,” Kinsler said. “For, in my recollection, no reason. For no reason he is belittling me, telling me, ‘Rookie this,’ and ‘Rookie that.’ Because he said I got in his way of making a call at first base. When I flipped the ball to first base, I ran into his line of vision.

“I’m the one playing the game. It’s your job to figure out where to go to get a view of that play. I’m not going to worry about flipping the ball and getting out of the umpire’s way. I had no idea what was going on. I was just like, ‘OK. OK. OK!”

Hernandez has been a full-time MLB umpire since 1993 and has called two World Series.