I swear this comes up every year.
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I think the intentional walk is an easy fix and would improve the game and shorten a few a very (very) little. But I see no reason to keep it. Of course, changing the strikezone will be acrimonious, which means it probably won't happen but will continue to come up.
I'm fine with the intentional walk....wish they'd do it in college too. I don't like changing the strikezone. It's fine like it is if the umpires would just quit calling pitches 6" off the ground strikes
Buckeye 2015 posted:It's fine like it is if the umpires would just quit calling pitches 6" off the ground strikes
#alternativefacts
Just, no! Umps already cheat pitchers a foot or so at the top of the zone. No, brushback pitches. Bucket sized strike zones. Lower mounds. Shall pitchers have a velocity cap too?
I read the the zone is lower but not actually below the strike zone. Occasionally a too low pitch gets called but most of them are actually strikes but weren't called before pitch fx.
Umpires are still bad (compared to what a robot ump could do) but they actually got closer to the rulebook zone every year since pitch fx was installed (and umps are evaluated by it).
Overall umps were favoring hitters quite a lot during the steroid era (albeit they were making the zone wider than it should be albeit shorter) and pitch fx forced them to take that away.
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/j...r-hal-questec-091214
I would love robot ump but likely it would hurt the hitters even more.
I think if we get robot ump we might need to adapt the strike zone a little. The strike zone was good but pitchers evolved. Hitters evolved too but mostly in getting stronger and hitting pitches down the pipe farther. You can get stronger and improve batspeed as a hitter but plate coverage and contact ability in the periphery of the strike zone against plus velocity can only be improved so much. Hitters are stronger but hand eye coordination is the same as it was 50 years ago, but velocity is not the same.
Some would call that changing history but mlb history is a history of pitchers getting ahead and mlb helping the hitters:
1920s: a livelier ball and of fences starting to get shorter
1960s: lowering of the mound
Early 90s: even shorter of fences in many stadiums and practically a smaller strike zone
So why would adjusting the zone officially be a bigger deal than the first 3 incidents? BTW wasn't there a time when the bottom edge was actually the top of the kneecap instead of the bottom? Also I think the upper edge was also changed from "armpit" to "midpoint of the upper body". Many things weren't all that constant in baseball history.
Your right, D. There have been a number of changes. As the dad of a pitcher, I see all of the ones that have hurt the pitchers.
And really, if I recall correctly, I think pretty much all of the rules changes have gone against the pitchers. Boy, what they wouldn't give for that armpit upper limit to the zone again. It chaps my son's hide raw that he doesn't get the belt high fastball. LOL. You should hear him. "They take like a foot away up high and then they give you like 6 inches down low. And then...forbid they call the black." Poor kid.
Every umpire ever has squeezed my son's strike zone when he pitches, and expands it when he hits. Especially with two strikes. He has almost finished a 22 game basketball season and has yet to foul anyone, despite what the refs call. In addition, he gets hammered every game and a foul is never called. In football, he has never held a defensive lineman, but they hold him on every play when he moves over to defense.
Just ask him.
I like being able to issue/receive intentional walks. One of the errant throws may get away. Love that unlike HS, American Legion had pitchers throw the pitches to the batter. Amazing to how many pitchers who intentionally walk a batter, can't find the strike zone for the next batter.
Dominik85 posted:
…I would love robot ump but likely it would hurt the hitters even more….
If they had the brains and ability to train themselves to only swing at pitches in the strike zone, why do you think it would hurt hitters?
Change both rules. Lobbing 4 balls to intentionally walk hitters is a dumb idea, forget the saving time bit it's just dumb. But especially the rule about the strike zone. Pitchers have always had the upper hand so anything to give hitters a better shot would be awesome.