Go44dad posted:I've seen a lot of furor over this. It's a test in an independent league. Let's wait and see.
Just a robot umpire calling the rule book strike zone may be a really big change. I assume each hitter will have a strike zone based on his (height, knee, etc)
Did you ever see Hakeem Olajuwon standing next to Pat Ewing or Kareem Abdul Jabbar? Hakeem had really short legs compared to many of the bigs. Conversely a longer torso. Although not an exact height match (Hakeem was 6'10 3/4"), Hakeem would have a larger strike zone than Pat/Kareem.
Can't think of any big men from Boston to compare him to....
The mind boggles at having the same strike zone for both Judge, and Altuve. Having said that, if they can figure out a way to adjust for height, I'm all for robo umps. I get really tired of some of the calls and attitudes I see. You can't offend, influence, or go chin to chin with a robot.
Lowering the mound sounds like a better idea than moving the rubber away. Pitchers have been using 60'6" all their lives. I can see a lot of them not being able to make the adjustment.
Limiting shifts strikes me as silly, and an indictment on the lack of imagination, training, and coaching in MLB. Not a hill I'm going to choose to die on, though.