Keith Hernandez blasts catcher’s ‘la-di-da,’ ‘terrible’ effort

New York Mets analyst Keith Hernandez was highly critical of the technique of Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Adrian Del Castillo on a critical play of Wednesday night’s game between the two teams.

With the game tied 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning, New York’s Pete Alonso came to the plate with one out and a runner, Starling Marte, on third base. Alonso hit a ball to shallow right field, which was caught by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Gurriel caught the ball while charging forward, putting him in position to make a strong throw home. And while Marte runs well, Gurriel’s throw home was well ahead of the runner. Del Castillo, though, did not get the tag down in time and Marte was safe.

“Bad tag,” Hernandez immediately exclaimed.

“You have got to catch that ball and cover the bag,” Hernandez said. His criticism only grew as the replay was shown. “It’s a la-di-da tag. It’s right on the line. Get there and — you can block the plate after you’ve got the ball.”

“I mean he had it in plenty of time,” Gary Cohen added. “But Marte able to get that hand around the tag.”

“It’s just a terrible, terrible tag,” Hernandez said.

It’s hard to disagree with Hernandez here. The rules on what catchers can and can’t do are much more strict than they were during Hernandez’s playing days. But as he noted, once the catcher has the ball, he can block the plate. Del Castillo caught the ball as Marte was just beginning his slide. That should not have been an issue.

A definitive trait about the SNY crew of Cohen, Hernandez and Ron Darling is that they are not at all bashful about calling out mistakes players make. That applies to the New York Mets as well as their opponents, even when the mistake benefits the Mets.

[Photo Credit: SNY]

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