2011 UEFL Awards: Worst Umpire of the Year: Hunter Wendelstedt (21)
Hunter Wendelstedt is the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League's 2011 worst umpire of the year. In his 13th Major League Baseball umpiring season, Wendelstedt finished the 2011 season with eight ejections, tied with Bob Davidson (2010's Worst Umpire of the Year), and one ejection short of league leader Rob Drake. Wendelstedt spent the first half of the 2011 season without any ejections, accumulating all eight of his ejections after the All-Star Break. Wendelstedt had three multiple ejection games in 2011, including
his first two ejections for Throwing At. As one UEFL'er remarked at the time, "Bout time he got a call right. He's the worst umpire in the bigs," though some complimented his handling of the situation, "he handled the whole situation great."
Wendelstedt was accused by some UEFL'ers of having a fast trigger during two other multiple ejection games (
3,4: ATL-FL and
5,6: BAL-MIN), while conversely praised for a patient trigger when
ejecting Jim Tracy in August. Nevertheless, Wendelstedt received more votes than the next three candidates combined and thus, is the UEFL's 2011 Worst Umpire of the Year.
Hunter Wendelstedt now has 18 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (21 Previous + -3 Award = 18).
The next postseason award, Most Improved Umpire, will be released tomorrow.
