Juan Soto Was So Confused After Being Struck Out On 6 Straight Balls

It is beginning to sound like a broken record at this point (and it’s still only April), but Major League Baseball has a serious umpire problem.

The latest prime example of how broken the current umpire system is came Tuesday night during a Juan Soto at-bat in the bottom of the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium.

With the Yankees up 4-3 over the Oakland A’s, Juan Soto faced off against Paul Blackburn.

In a six pitch at-bat that saw Soto not take a single swing and Blackburn not throw a single ball in the zone, the 25-year-old outfielder was called out on strikes by umpire John Tumpane.

How?

Blackburn’s first pitch, an 89 mph sinker, was correctly called a ball.

The second pitch, an 85 mph changeup, was also, correctly, called a ball.

Soto, now up 2-0, took the third pitch, an 81 mph slider that was out of the zone low and away. That was, incorrectly, called a strike.

On the fourth pitch, Blackburn threw a 89 mph cutter up and in that was correctly called a ball.

With the count now 3-1, Soto took a 91 mph four-seam fastball that was out of the zone down and away, for called strike two.

On the sixth and final pitch of the at-bat, Blackburn went back to his slider, which ended up below the strike zone for called strike three.

Watch…

Soto, who has led Major League Baseball in walks each of the past three seasons and obviously has a tremendous eye at the plate, was rightfully upset.

As Rich Eisen pointed out on X (Twitter), “In two days, the @Yankees saw a home plate umpire eject their manager for something he didn’t say and call their star player out on strikes without a single, actual strike being thrown.”

Perhaps umpire John Tumpane was trying to make up for what Ryan Blakney did on Tuesday in Kansas City?

Seriously though, the ump shows need to stop. If only we had the technology…