Umpire Angel Hernández charges MLB changed his performance reviews to make him look bad
Although a U.S. District Court last year dismissed umpire Angel Hernández’s race discrimination suit against Major League Baseball, he appealed the decision.
Hernández, who was born in Cuba, first filed suit against Major League Baseball in 2017, saying he had not been given a World Series assignment since 2005. He also had not been promoted to crew chief.
The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan reported Hernández, who has been a big-league umpire for 29 years, made a legal filing with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that MLB “manipulated its internal umpiring metrics to disadvantage minorities, thereby excluding them from becoming crew chiefs.”
The Athletic story notes MLB evaluated umpires with reports (called a UER) at the middle and end of each season during the time period of the original complaint (2011-16).
This is an excerpt from the Athletic story:
“Hernández said his UERs were glowing, but when it came time for his year-end review, the results did not reflect the previous positive assessments.
“(A) review of Mr. Hernández’s Year-End Evaluations and his UERs for the years 2011-2016 reveals that MLB manipulated Mr. Hernández’s year-end evaluations in order to make his job performance appear worse than it actually was,’ he argued. ‘Mr. Hernandez’s Year-End Evaluations for the 2011-2016 seasons do not even come close to accurately summarizing Mr. Hernández’s actual performance in those seasons.’”
MLB has denied discriminating against Hernández, and in his ruling on the original filing, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken noted the league’s argument from MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre.
“The explicit reason MLB offers — that according to Torre, Hernandez ‘has not demonstrated the leadership ability and situation-management skills in critical high-pressure roles on a consistent basis’ — is presented in clear and specific terms,” Oetken wrote.
Kaplan reported MLB has 30 to 45 days to file a response. The Second Circuit will either schedule an oral argument or rule based on the briefs, he noted.
