JCG posted:cabbagedad posted:Wechson, I saw at least 8-10 very bad ball-strike calls last night that were confirmed bad not only by K-zone but by the straight down camera angle and the player reactions. Son and I were discussing hitting before the game and he made the point how good most MLB players' eyes are for the zone - that when they react with any degree of animation, they are right nine times out of ten.
I can't vouch for his methods or accuracy but Umpire Auditor on Twitter had Jim Wolf with an 88.9% correct call rate in game 7, which is well below average.
https://twitter.com/UmpireAudi.../1189958290144280576
What I don't get in a series like this is you have a crew of 6. There has to be 2 guys who are recognizably best at working plate. Use them there. Leave the others in the field. (Too much wear and tear for the one best guy to do all the games.)
I'm also wondering -- just because it's off-season now and there is time to wonder, what if, before we go all in on full umpire robot mode, it's done partially. Each team gets a small number of balls-and-strikes challenges, say 3 or 4 per game. For call to be overturned, is has to be egregiously bad, as for example most of those in the tweet above. This would not have to add any time to the game. An ump working remotely could watch every pitch live, flag the really bad calls, and send the rulings to a device carried by the plate ump. Manager signals his challenge and plate ump checks the device for an instant ruling.
At the same time, let's institute a clock on regular challenges. Start the clock when the umps grab the headsets. If they can't get a ruling within 60 seconds, the original call stands.
I've argued for this, as tennis has actually done a really good job here. If anything, the contested line call reveals are dramatic in-and-of themselves and additive to the game. I wasn't really for the concept until this post season when the 3D graphics made it clear the technology had advanced enough that it would be significantly accurate. This feels like a smart solve. Keeps the human element, but tech is added in to enhance the accuracy and ultimately improve the product.