stralls and bikes

[JB]

All baseball season I have been watching the new thing called a pitch tracker and comparing where pitches really crossed the plate (or not) to where the umpire calls them.

Last night I kept mental notes on pitches that were not swung at in the Rangers/Rays game.

One case: First pitch was several inches out of the strike zone. Called a strike.
Next two pitches both well inside the strike zone. Both called balls. Ump was 0 for 3!

Another: Five pitches inside the strike zone, one outside. Batter walked.

Overall, the Ump was only about 50-60% accurate.

I just don't think that is good enough and I do think it is typical. Batter or Manager argues a call they get ejected.

I can't say I have actually seen bad pitch calling affect the outcome of a game but I am very sure that it must have happened.

I think it is time for MLB to consider using the pitch tracker to call balls and strikes. Not replay, just give both pitchers and batters an accurate call in the first place.

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: stralls and bikes

I am not much of a baseball fan' but it seems that such technology should have been in use a long time ago. The problem of bad calls by umpires extends to many other sports as well, during the football world cup in South Africa, (Soccer to lesser beings) it was very frustrating to see the infractions that many players got away with. I felt that team USA was cheated by the so obviously bad calls made by the referees, resulting in two goals being disallowed, such bad calls by referees and umpires somehow ought to be overruled.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: stralls and bikes

I wish I had that technology when my son and I were involved in Little League. Just to show the parent,s that there child was just not that good.

I don't think the umpire or any other referees should be over ruled by replays. All that creates is second guessing on the officials call . As long as the game is called fairly.

Just think of the referees as the third team on the playing field.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: stralls and bikes

I don't ever want a machine to call balls and strikes either. As long as the game is called equally for both teams, leave it as is.........

 

[rbh]

Re: stralls and bikes

I have never seen a pitch tracker, is it anything like the puck's travel you see highlighted during a hockey game on fox sports??

 

[angus63]

Re: stralls and bikes

From what I have seen of it so far, there have been several times when the indication on the tracker did not match what I saw on the tube. I like the tweak each different umpire brings to the game, as long as it is applied to both teams evenly.

 

[Ross J]

Re: stralls and bikes

The technology available for our sports here in New Zealand permits interaction between the umpire, referee and various others involved in the running of the game.
The referee has the last say so and he or she can overrule the technology. There is usually an extra referee provided to watch the computor and adjudicate between them.
In some sports this has had the effect of the players accepting calls more readily and without argument knowing the "third umpire" (as we call them) has called right.
Sadly it's not available for all games, mainly the very senior games played in the stadiums.
Perhaps it'll come to sports fields everywhere soon.
I for one find it helpful and appreciate the effort sports here have gone to to keep games honest and free from corruption, not to mention the decrease of anger shown by some spectators towards the hard working referees etc.
Thanks

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: stralls and bikes

Maybe we'll still need an ump to at least dust off home plate...

 

[stic88]

Re: stralls and bikes

if the pitch is a ball and called a strike, i have no problem with it as long as the ump is consistant and calls it the same for both teams.

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: stralls and bikes

It's just like bad weather in golf. Plays the same for everyone. A bad ump is the same as a 20mph crosswind. The strong shall prevail!

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: stralls and bikes

...

I can't say I have actually seen bad pitch calling affect the outcome of a game but I am very sure that it must have happened...

Yes it happened. It was the 1995 World Series. The Atlanta Braves pitchers threw about 400 pitches 3-5 inches off the outside corner and they were all called strikes. That's the only way they beat the Cleveland Indians. Soon after, baseball "changed" the strike zone and insisted its umpires call it the way it's described in the rule book.
Obviously the umps have gotten away from that, again.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: stralls and bikes

... As long as the game is called fairly.

Just think of the referees as the third team on the playing field.

Your first point will be echoed by many (it already has been), but it doesn't work that way. Only pitchers who the umpires think are "in control" get the calls. Again, I reference the 95 World Series. Glavine, Maddox, and Smoltz got all those calls, when Charles Nagy and Chad Ogea and the rest of the Cleveland "no-name pitchers" certainly did NOT. Reputation is a factor in the umpires' strike zones, and that is wrong.

Your second point is absurd. The role of the umpires in any sport is to NOT be a part of the game.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: stralls and bikes

Your second point is absurd. The role of the umpires in any sport is to NOT be a part of the game.

Aaaa but the players have to change there game to match the refs way of calling the game. So because of this it becomes part of the game. In all professional sports the referees are studied as much in detail or more than the other teem is.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: stralls and bikes

it's part of the game, take instant replay away from football also.

 

[JB]

Re: stralls and bikes

What is "fair"? What is happening sure as heck isn't.

No part of the game is as important as the contest between pitcher and batter. . .to produce an out or a base runner.

To walk a batter on 5 strikes and one ball or to strike him out with three balls and one strike is in no way fair. That takes pitcher skill and batter skill out of the game. You might as well flip a coin.

The notion that the ump calls all pitches the same is a fantasy. The same ump is calling balls strikes AND strikes balls.

I do not propose to replace the ump, even at the plate. I only propose to make the game more dependent on player skill by taking ump errors out of pitch calling.

 

[PW2]

Re: stralls and bikes

The "pitch tracker" is flawed as well. What counts is where the ball crosses the plate, and not where the catcher catches it.

I think there should be more tranparency in the manner MLB grades and evaluates each umpire's perfomance, but balls and strikes replay is a mistake.

OTOH, replay in the case of fair or foul, or tag plays on the bases, should be implemented more. We should want to get it right.

 

[i386]

Re: stralls and bikes

The technology to get this right certainly exists. Who knows why they won't do it.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: stralls and bikes

...

I think there should be more tranparency in the manner MLB grades and evaluates each umpire's perfomance, but balls and strikes replay is a mistake.

OTOH, replay in the case of fair or foul, or tag plays on the bases, should be implemented more. We should want to get it right.

I completely agree with these points. No replay on balls and strikes, but DEFINATELY hold the umpire accountable for not calling the strike zone that is in the rule book.

 

[Philster]

Re: stralls and bikes

The "pitch tracker" is flawed as well. What counts is where the ball crosses the plate, and not where the catcher catches it.

I think there should be more tranparency in the manner MLB grades and evaluates each umpire's perfomance, but balls and strikes replay is a mistake.

OTOH, replay in the case of fair or foul, or tag plays on the bases, should be implemented more. We should want to get it right.

It doesn't give a hoot where it's caught. It matters where it crosses the plate. If it crosses the plate at any point during its trajectory, it will register in the box, be it the front of the plate, or whether its strong/hard curve allows it to nip the back edge of the square cross-section of the plate.

Catcher's glove is irrelevant to the technology used, which is a look from above cross-referenced with a look from in front. Above = position crossing the plate and the front view is relevant to the height. If cameras are used and have an 'offset' which prevents dead-on reckoning by the camera/tracker/equipment, that is calculated into the formula for the tracker.

Note to TV viewers calling your own, w/out the tracker: Because the outfield camera is offset to the right side, this visually pulls the ball right on TV in relation to the plate. A ball several inches off the outside of the plate to a right-handed batter will appear to have nipped the edge of the plate to the home viewer. The pitch tracker will show it several inches off the outside of the plate.

As for umps? Bah, there is no arguing the egregious errors, since they are well documented. The argument becomes, "Is this human factor making the game better?"

Some pitchers, because of their delivery, curve, break, and catcher's framing of the ball, (and their overall rep) can work the outside part of the zone all day and night for strikes and get into the hall of fame because of it. Staying a few inches outside can yield strike after strike. Ask Greg Maddux.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: stralls and bikes

I don,t know but if you had two people in front of you moving around and the ball coming at you at 100mph. I would think I couldn't get it 100% of the time how about you.