October 28, 2008
Balls in the Strike Zone
Just in case you thought the pitch calling by the umpire was bad in game 5, Beyond the Boxscore offeres proof. I for one, welcome our new robot umpires.
It strikes me that there should be some electronic way to determine if the ball crossed the plate. Either a transponder or a local GPS system. It would then be up to the umpire to call the ball high or low. That's the tough call, because every batter has a different strike zone based on height and stance. Take away one dimension from the umpire, and you make their job a bit easier.
Posted by David Pinto at
11:59 AM
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Umpires
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Probably a horrible idea, but what if a batter could appeal a strike similar to the tennis players now challenge whether or not a ball is in play or out of bounds?
The past couple years, with TV showing me graphics of balls & K's, it's easier for us to notice how bad umpires are at calling the corners. I don't blame them... they're trying to tell if a 2 inch ound object traveling at 90+ mph was over the edge of an object a foot or two below. Not easy. The past couple season's I've begun to get frustrated with MLB because of this...why don't they do SOMETHING.
I like the idea of an electronic thingy inside home plate that can somehow tell if the ball went over it or not.
I also had this idea of instant reply to overturn balls & strikes...and like in football, give each team a certain number of challenges. If they lose the challenge, it adds an extra strike or if the pitching team loses the challenge, it'd add an extra ball. Since MLB has started using reply for HR challenges... why not use it for the hardest thing to call? All 9th inning and onward, should nbe challenged by the booth perhaps.
I hadn't thought of the idea of just letting the ump call the vertical and leaving the "horizon" to an electronic device. I like that too.... but I don't imagine people will like that at all because they'll say it's removing the human element.
With current technology in artificial vision, the gadgets can call up-down just as accurately as in-out. (This sounds kinky, no?) So if they ever let the machines start calling the corners, the electronic critters would soon be calling everything.
Which is why they won't let the machines call anything around the plate. The robots are already much better than human umpires.
The robots can make TV announcers look (unintentionally) funny, too. Ron Darling, for instance, is a former pitcher who never met a called strike he didn't like. So when he says that the pitch just caught the corner, it's always fun when the robot reveals it was three-four inches off.
And when he says the pitch was close, the robot will usually show it eight-ten inches off the plate.
Truth to tell, some commentators are more careful. Here in DFW, for instance, Tom Grieve is reluctant to commit himself before he sees the robot results. Like everybody else, Grieve knows the electronic critters are more accurate than any mere mortal.
