I would rather see money spent for additional scholarships and coaches in the college ranks than spending it on robot umpires.
While looking for a video I came across an umpire/player confrontation video that choked me laughing. I’m not sure what level. I’m guessing minors. The player was wrung up on a horrible call. He was tossed for arguing.
His coach came out to run interference to keep his player from getting in more trouble. The manager and the umpire were going at it face to face. The player went back to the dugout, grabbed a trash barrel and placed it behind home plate.
He then screamed at the umpire he was out of position. If he wants to be positioned in the right place stand in the trash barrel.
Still the greatest manager meltdown of all time
@Dominik85 posted:Still the greatest manager meltdown of all time
I’ll see you’re Wally Backman and raise you a Phil Wellman. Google it.
Yeah that's better
Does anyone miss the 10-minute breaks where managers berate umpires over bangers or calls on the lines? Or is the replay system that everyone is usually satisfied with the call being right better?
I will not miss the bitching about balls and strikes when after a short break in period everyone gets used to it. What they really need to do is also keep hitters in the box while they are at it. Umpires will be what they always want to be - incidental to the game rather than a factor in the game.
It'll be great and we'll wonder later how we ever lived without it...like an i-phone.
After talking with my 2022 about the robot umps coming to AAA ball in 2022, he sent me this link: https://youtu.be/HG12q63ICzU
The third pitch in the sequence is really tough to understand...
2021 Atlantic League Automated Ball/Strike System (ABS)
Lexington Legends vs. Lancaster Barnstormers
@johnlanza posted:After talking with my 2022 about the robot umps coming to AAA ball in 2022, he sent me this link: https://youtu.be/HG12q63ICzU
The third pitch in the sequence is really tough to understand...
2021 Atlantic League Automated Ball/Strike System (ABS)
Lexington Legends vs. Lancaster Barnstormers
That's where a very small piece of the ball just nicks the edge of the zone as it's crossing the front of the plate and heading outside the zone. Umpires can't call it but the computer can track it. No one wants that called a strike except the pitcher. It won't be the last we see of it with the robots.
All that might be so...but you know what will happen...batters and pitchers will adjust because it will be called the same every time out. As noted, before there will be a break in period as everyone adjusts but since there will be consistency ...and no one to argue with...they will adjust in 50 to 100 ab's at the most.
Hitters will be able to see where the strike zone is because it will be in the tape of every ab they take. I think the really good hitters will adjust in 2 weeks or less, so we are talking 25 plate appearances in spring training.
Once everyone understands where the outside corner at the knees and the inside corner are - it will be game on. It really should be an advantage for hitters because the inconsistency of the zone from inning to inning will be eliminated.
One other thing I won't miss is the special strike zone various pitchers and hitters operate with.
Will a robot umpire seeing the front of the strike zone slightly dinged for a strike lead to a lot of sinkers being thrown? Theoretically a pitch could ding the front of the strike zone and land in the dirt in front of the catcher.
@RJM posted:Will a robot umpire seeing the front of the strike zone slightly dinged for a strike lead to a lot of sinkers being thrown? Theoretically a pitch could ding the front of the strike zone and land in the dirt in front of the catcher.
I think it might prompt pitchers to really consider working off an extreme side of the rubber and try and create more angles rather than sit on the middle of the rubber and just try and gas guys out.
And, for sure, you're going to see guys with more cutters and Frisbee type pitches that move east and west. Everyone will be trying to hit borders of the zone with pitches that move out of it and which are unhittable.
Baseball will see even more strikeouts than before with the robots.
If you keep following the video - the next pitcher throws one that appears to be a strike, but is ball 4 - as they pan around you can see the 1B umpire in the background scratching the back of his hat like WTF.
The "nick" the strike zone has been my thought all along or the pitcher that perfects the eephus pitch. It'll be like going back to parabola ball that dominates U-10 youth baseball <shrug>.
As kids we used to play whiffle ball in the driveway with four squares on the garage door being the strike zone. One of the pitches we threw was a curve that would be high but drop down into the strike zone behind the batter. I could imagine MLB pitchers trying to nick the back end of the robot’s strike zone. It would be a difficult pitch to hit as it really wouldn’t be a strike.
Holy smokes ....break out the beer league slow pitch softball guys with the 15-foot lob dropping one inch behind the plate. I know MLB guys have helacious movement but the idea that they are going to be able to clip the front corner with pitches that will be falling away from hitters at such an angle that they won't get hit is a reach in my view.
The bigger problem has always been the ball that was NEVER over the plate getting called a strike. Greg Maddox got 500 outs a year for 15 years this way on the way to the Hall of Fame.
It's gonna be great. I know one of these days Skynet will kill us all, but it won't be Cowboy Joe Robot leading the way.
The only real disadvantage that can't be solved imo is that the catcher position gets severely devalued. Receiving doesn't matter anymore and you might see catchers just sitting on their butt with bases empty.
But other than that everything can be resolved by slightly adjusting the rulebook zone so that robo ump zone comes closer to the actual human zone that gets called now - just more consistent.
Dom
You're probably right but it will change the job. It might be more of a job like a RF. You'll be looking for OK athlete with big arm on defensive side but the bat will become the big part of the job. That means the C will become a 25 HR position. Power bats will suddenly have another position to play and not crush team defensively.
I don’t believe catching will change that much. There’s a lot more to catching then framing pitches. If a pitcher can’t block junk in the dirt he’s taking away a lot of many pitcher’s effectiveness.