Pitch Trax

With the speed of the game, I think it's shocking how often the umpires get it right, sometimes I'll sit there and say "Wow", they made the right call.
And sometimes I just sit there...

Yes, sometimes we sit with our mouths open and say "what"? Two guys off the base - both tagged by the catcher and one is safe? Wow, ok new rule.

And then we think, hey it's only the play-offs, right?

Thank God they had instant replay for A-Rods homer that hit the camera.

That did take the human element out of the game right?

YES, I am very much in favor of an automated ball/strike system. As a father of three pitchers, I have seen way to many games where the umpire manipulates the strike zone to get revenge on a coach or team at the expense of the players or parents. Also to many umpires with odd and changing strike zones. I would prefer the strike zone being called by a human umpire if I could get consistently correct strike zoned called, but there just isn't enough good umpires. A poorly called gamed ruins the game for everyone, I hate it when the game is taken over by a bad umpire.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach Waltrip:
The problem for using this system to call balls and strikes is that the strike zone is three dimensional and not a flat rectangular shape as seen on TV. A curve ball could catch the corner of the plate and quickly move out of the strike zone.

Yep. Got that right.

quote:

Originally posted by "..." :
I'm certain they use a similar devise in tennis. I think they used it at Wimbleton.

They do not solely rely on it, but use it as a backup to the line judge.

The tennis system is a success but only becasue people buy in that it is perfect when it is not. It has margins for error, and it still misses calls...last year in one of the biggest events of the year a ball was clearly caught on visual tape as being a couple inches out...and the computer called it good.

Part of the game of baseball has always been the ability of a pitcher and a batter to recognize and adapt to the strike zone as it is being called.

AND isn't the current strike zone as it is being called smaller than the one in the rule book? So as to foster more offense and put more butts in the sets and make more$ ?. Which strike zone does the computer use...

44
.

quote:

Originally posted by DG:
YES, I am very much in favor of an automated ball/strike system. As a father of three pitchers, I have seen way to many games where the umpire manipulates the strike zone to get revenge on a coach or team at the expense of the players or parents.


Thats odd actually, its the pitchers who dont want electronic zones the most....and after 20+ years as an umpire, I've only actually seen one umpire deliberately cheat a team....and we put a stop to that after 1 inning....



Also to many umpires with odd and changing strike zones. I would prefer the strike zone being called by a human umpire if I could get consistently correct strike zoned called, but there just isn't enough good umpires. '

Agreed.... we always need more qualified, trained and competent umpires.....have you ever thought of trying it yourself?....I came back to umpiring after my son started playing, in the most part because of the level of umpiring that I saw in his games.....

A poorly called gamed ruins the game for everyone, I hate it when the game is taken over by a bad umpire.

this is usually what an umpire hears after a team loses the game.....either your team wins the game....or the umpire lost it for you......the truth is usually somewhere in between......

This was in a column by Thomas Sowell, (one of my favorite writers, economists and columnists) today:

"Baseball has too many close plays and too many judgment calls to have wholesale instant replay that could add hours to a game. However, there is no reason why there can't be some device to show automatically whether any part of a ball went over any part of the plate, before an umpire can call it a strike. How wide the strike zone is shouldn't depend on what umpire is behind the plate."

Which brings up again my philosophical/hypothetical question: What if....

What if there was a system that could perfectly without fail every single time determine if a ball hit the strike zone, would you want it used?

.

No.

.

quote:

...last year in one of the biggest events of the year a ball was clearly caught on visual tape as being a couple inches out...and the computer called it good.

Yep, saw it. But, as reported from the booth the ball it picked up was the shot before the "out shot"....

which is why I am not in favor of the automated ball strike call...

I am in favor of a "tennis like" system of 3 challenges per game.. if you are right you retain your challenge. If you are wrong you lose your challenge.

But, the challenge has to be "ball in play"... not ball/strike.

I think the ball/strike calling in MLB is excellent.

A lot 1/3 of the time the replay is not where I thought the ball crossed the plate at... I disagree with the automated call a bit.

quote:

What if there was a system that could perfectly without fail every single time determine if a ball hit the strike zone, would you want it used?

Sure, assuming the system cost nothing, and could call approximately the same strike zone as we have today. Technology aside, I suspect that to automate strikes and balls, it would be necessary to re-define the top and bottom of the strike zone, probably in some uniform manner. I have read that Questec needs a operator who sets the vertical extent of the strike zone for each batter.

The cost issue is very important in my mind. The baseball league that can most easily afford it has umpires who need it the least. Such a system would offer much more benefit to, say, a JV High School game.

Automated strike zone is like trying to play baseball god. Its the same as cloning humans. Human error is a part of the game that seperates the mentally tough from the weak. If you think an ump missed it throw the same pitch to the same spot. Then you will know. If you cant do that you should'nt point any fingers. It is easier to call strikes than balls.

I think it would be very interesting to trial it (automated determination of balls/strokes) at spring training. I would especially look forward to the coach/player vs. robot fights! Might be more entertaining than some of the games.