Angel Hernandez has Joe West’s support after polarizing ump’s shocking retirement

Angel Hernandez has at least one person in his corner.

The Major League Baseball umpire, who has often been criticized for his calls on the field, is retiring this week after more than 30 years of calling games at the highest level.

Despite facing rebuke from fans, coaches and players throughout his career, Hernandez, 62, has a defender in ex-MLB umpire Joe West.

West, a big league umpire for 43 seasons, joined 670 The Score in Chicago on Tuesday, and he said that Hernandez was more than adequate at his job.

“Whether you want to believe it or not, he was good at it,” West said on the “Parkins & Spiegel Show.”

3

Hernandez, on Monday, confirmed he was retiring to spend more time with his family.

According to Umpire Scorecards, Hernandez ranked in the 22nd percentile in accuracy and in the 21st in consistency, and with that, he faced plenty of criticism online, which West felt was unfair.

“I hate the fact that these people that sit behind a desk and get behind a computer and send out all these social media things, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” West added.

3

In 2017, Hernandez, who is Cuban American, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against MLB, claiming that his race played a role in him not getting plum World Series and full-time crew chief assignments.

He had not worked a World Series since 2005.

The case was dismissed four years later and upheld by an appeals court in 2023.

MLB argued that Hernandez had not performed well enough at his job to get those plush assignments.

West claimed on the radio show that Hernandez graded well among the league’s other umpires.

“I know the lawyer that handled his case, and I know that when they went through everything that he was graded on, he was in the top 20 percent [of umpires],” West said.

3

Hernandez called his last game on May 9 between the Guardians and White Sox.

A former MLB manager told The Post’s Mike Vaccaro that he believed Hernandez was wont to make mistakes while calling games.

“It’s a long game,” he said. “Sooner of later he was gonna f–k you out of one.”