Why Isn't Pitch f/x The Boss, And Other Questions

When the modern game of baseball was created they didn’t make an umpire stand out in the outfield and judge if a ball was hit far enough to be a homerun, they put up a wall. They didn’t put umpires out in right and left field to guess if a ball was fair or foul, they drew a line. If the technology had existed to have an electronic system determine if a pitch was a ball or a strike I feel positive it would have been incorporated into the game. But unfortunately that technology came along much later so now “tradition” says we can’t use it.

I watch baseball to see the competition between teams, I don’t like to see a good pitcher v. batter duel end due to an umpire missing a call on a pitch 6 inches off the plate.

We only really need 1, to run the machines that call a game correctly.

Plus the ones we have now are especially shitty this year, its like they are going out of their way to make the game bad. Oh, and I wont even get into how big their egos are….

I think there’s definitely something going on considering what we’ve already seen this season with some of the perfect games, no-hitters (well, the one so far) and near-misses. I’ve seen strike zones getting wider and wider the deeper some of these games get, and it’s like everyone’s Greg Maddux now in how some umps will give them just about any pitch if it’s even close.

Something needs to be done.

I don’t think umpires can be replaced on the bases yet, but yeah, the strike zone is somewhere cameras can do a better job. I am not going to argue whether a camera is better or worse, but more consistent. ANd as long as its consitant, the pitchers and batter can adjust

the pitcher or batter can ask for an appeal and the great baseball umpire in the sky can say uphold or overturn. It would be a quick decision, no more time than a batter stepping out of the box. and it would mean more umpire jobs.

I really believe that there is an illusion that exists on virtually every TV broadcast I’ve seen (and I’ve been watching baseball for almost 50 years now). I was amazed as I watched the Twins-Braves game last night. Their cameras are set significantly higher than most every other in baseball, and it gives a much different perspective on the strike zone. Not to defend the umpires—last night’s was horrendous—but it seems like much of the time when cameras show an overhead angle straight down on the plate, the position of the pitch looks slightly different than what I perceived, watching over the pitcher’s shoulder.. Often, pitches I thought caught the plate were a little off the plate, and vice versa. This view at Target Stadium last night gave a much different feel and it fascinated me. For one thing, you can see the speed with which they’re throwing better. Hudson was pitching against Liriano and I had a much greater appreciation of what a 90-91 mph fastball looked like. It also showed that the pitches from a lefty that appear to cut the edge of the plate are sometimes just off the corner. I’m not necessarily voicing an opinion here, but watching both games last night gave me a fuller understanding of the issue.

This whole discussion would be more constructive if it were framed less often as “Umpires are bad, and we should take the job away from them and give it to computers instead because computers are better,” and more often as, “Umpires aren’t doing as good a job as they could, so we should change the system so that they can make full use of these new tools.”

I remember similar arguments made for an earlier generation of computers with regard to numerous occupations, including teachers and radio announcers. Nowadays it sounds absurd to suggest teachers should be replaced by computers, and equally absurd to think they would try to do their job without them, but the discussions in the late 1970s and early 1980s had the exact same issues of framing.

I wonder if many of the people engaging in the umpire debate now aren’t old enough to have learned the lesson from such discussions.

Rich Harden is back on the DL (left gluteal muscle strain).

Giving some guy named Nava from Redwood City his first hit, a Grand Slam into the Red Sox bullpen.

Few points though:

- As a plate umpire you do see the ball cross the plate well, save for the outside corner. I wrote a bit about different ways to position as a plate umpire in the recent post. MLB umpires work The Slot and they work it well. The bigger problem is that you have to sort of calibrate yourself to offset the angle of the view of the plate.

- You don’t have a better view from behind the mound. I worked a few times from there (rare occasions where the second umpire didn’t show up) and it is actually harder than from behind the catcher. You also have the angle and on top of that you don’t have the feeling for when the ball crossed the plate. Calling fastballs is not that hard, but with good breaking stuff you are guessing a lot – the thing that you don’t have to do from behind the plate.

- Not only the being home plate umpire has some difficulty to it, base umpires face their challenges, too. For me, one of the most difficult calls is a roller toward first, fielded by the first baseman and tossed to the pitcher. There are so many things to watch simultaneously – batter-runner’s foot on the bag, pitchers foot on the bag, possible bobble. Balls are normally tossed more softly, so you don’t get the benefit of the sound of the ball hitting the glove. Also, you can not always assume your preferred first base position, some 45 degrees towards inside, as the play may be developing in exactly your area.

Greater punishment won’t lead to better ball strike calls. I think you are defeating your own argument by saying that their positioning behind the catcher is wrong. Even if the behind the plate umps were super-motivated because of more accountability to make better ball and strike calls they view home plate at an angle.

I’m not really sure what you are trying to argue. It seems like you are arguing that you want an Umpire straight away center-field with the aid of one of these computerized systems calling balls and strikes? It sounds like a good idea in theory, but what about the delay time involved. The computer has to determine whether the pitch is a strike and then the Ump in center-field has to relay that information on to the field. I’m just saying if you add humans to the equation it will take more time lengthening the game some people argue is too long.

Thus, what you are really arguing is that we need a robot, correct?

SFGiants
  
Tonight’s Starting Lineup: Torres CF, Sanchez 2B, Huff RF, Uribe SS, Burrell LF, Posey 1B, Sandoval 3B, Molina C, Zito LHP 22 minutes ago via web Retweeted by JohnSheaHey and 5 others

caseypratt
  
#athletics news! Rajai Davis is back and leading off less than a minute ago via TweetDeck

mmhmm. douchebags.

#Athletics at Giants: Davis cf, Barton 1b, Ellis 2b, Kouzmanoff 3b, Cust lf, Fox c, Carson rf, Pennington ss, Sheets p.

I miss Kurt already.

How the eff does Jorge Posada continue to improve as a hitter? His post age-35 seasons are completely baffling for a catcher. He really could use a move to DH full time to really see what he’s got left, but how the hell is he still mashing?

Harden really busted his ass out there last night pitching 120 pitches, literally.
Kinda too sad to snicker about really…

Kevin_Goldstein
  
#Cubs SS Starlin Castro is 5-for-34 (.147) in June. #TheBigLeaguesAreHard 1 minute ago via TweetDeck