Umpire Laz Diaz calls out Cardinals' Lars Nootbaar's batting average

The St. Louis Cardinals have been victims of bad umpiring on multiple occasions this year. Whether it be Lance Lynn getting ejected for throwing pitches in a spring training game or a variety of strikes going against them, the Cardinals have had to fight the opponent and the umpires this year. According to Umpire Scorecards, St. Louis has had the 4th-most strike calls go against them this year.

Those missed calls were on full display on May 22nd when the Cardinals faced the Baltimore Orioles. Home plate umpire Charlie Ramos missed three calls that were on the outside portion of the plate to outfielder Lars Nootbaar. As a result of those three missed calls, Lars struck out.

The real issue came after manager Oliver Marmol was ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes. Crew chief Laz Diaz defended his umpire to an extreme degree. On Marmol's way out of the game, Laz Diaz stooped low enough to criticize Nootbaar's batting average.

Jimmy O'Brien of Jomboy Media made an excellent breakdown of this exchange between Diaz and Marmol. Give his video a watch. During the altercation between the Cardinals' manager and the crew chief, Oliver Marmol must have pointed out something that happened on the base paths to say that all of the umpires in the game were off. Diaz's response was pointed, harsh, and unnecessary.

"Oh yeah we're all off. We're all off, and he's hitting .210, and we're off. He's hitting 2-f******-10, and we're off."

- Laz Diaz

An umpire criticizing a player's batting average is unheard of. For Laz Diaz to speak directly about Nootbaar's performance is uncalled for. Nootbaar wasn't even the one arguing with Diaz at any point.

Since this at bat, Lars had gone 7-15, though he is now on the injured list with an oblique strain.

Diaz's umpiring skills are also lackluster, so he doesn't have much ground to stand on. According to Umpire Scorecards, Laz's ball-strike accuracy is in the 26th percentile of all umpires, and he is in the 24th percentile in favoring one team over another. While he is fairly consistent, he is far from accurate when behind the plate.

This isn't the first time that Marmol has run into trouble with umpires, and it likely won't be the last given the amount of calls that have gone against the Cardinals this year. This is a clear instance where an umpire stepped out of line and inserted himself into the game to have a greater effect than necessary.