KANSAS CITY -- American League hitters have had a tough time picking up pitches from Royals rookie left-hander Tim Hill.
Entering Wednesday's action, batters were hitting just .229 against Hill and striking out almost a hitter per inning.
But do you know who else is having a tough time picking up Hill's pitches? Home-plate umpires.
According to Statcast™ charts of the strike zone, umpires already perhaps have missed 12 Hill pitches that were called balls but likely were strikes. Some were blatantly obvious, like the time in Cleveland when Hill issued a four-pitch walk although two of his two-seam fastballs clearly were inside the grid.