“The umpires shall be responsible for the conduct of the game in accordance with these official rules and for maintaining discipline and order on the playing field during the game. … Each umpire is the representative of the league and of professional baseball, and is authorized and required to enforce all of these rules.”
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That game was pretty bad. My son said, I'm a Rangers fan but this umpire is trash. It's an easy fix.
To be fair hinch has a reputation of arguing balls and strikes a lot often in an arrogant way.
I can understand umps are tired of him but still the ump should have handled that differently, they should act professional even if the atmosphere is tight.
Altuve didn't argue and he got screwed on his K.
Who knows what was going on all game. Umpire could be a diva, or he just had enough of endless carping from the bench, and he took a stand. Usually these things don't happen in a vacuum.
57special posted:Who knows what was going on all game. Umpire could be a diva, or he just had enough of endless carping from the bench, and he took a stand. Usually these things don't happen in a vacuum.
The guy has a reputation of bad calls, refusing to ask for help on calls from fellow umpires and getting into confrontations with dugouts. How about ejecting a player and yelling something at him after he walked away?
To almost quote the late great Mayor Richard Daley:
"The umpire is not there to create disorder....he is there to preserve disorder"
Sooner or later baseball (and us fans) will tire of the needless bitching on balls and strikes and just automate the whole mess. Until then - relax and realize every one of these episodes brings us a little closer to the day our children won't remember the days people called balls & strikes after HS. My bet is within 10 years of introduction at MLB it will spread down to at least HS.
I've been seeing this a lot lately. Umpires staring down pitchers, yelling back after a questionable call. This one really stands out to me and seems to happen fairly often now. Players are unhappy with the call and the ump fires back with a - this is my game - type remark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOIkKCN7yt4
It seems like players and coaches are getting ejected more and more for disrespecting umpires more than they are for unacceptable behavior. I don't think it's a problem, but the isolated instances are definitely becoming more frequent.
First video certainly seems to be a case of a team knowing the umpire and the umpire knowing the team. If you think something is going to not go your way and it doesn't then when it doesn't it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Conversely if you think a team/dugout is going to complain and they do, then the prophecy is true again. I think the Red Sox feel the same way about Angel Hernandez. The second video, I dunno, looks like an attempted quick pitch - the batter is still getting settled into the box. You want to start something even worse - allow a pitcher to quick pitch. IMO, what is worse is when a better is settled, the pitcher takes a long time, and batter calls time just as pitcher starts his delivery - if (and usually is) granted, yeah pitcher has a beef. I also see why a pitcher wants to keep a certain rhythm and why a batter wants to disrupt that. In a 2 minute clip from the 4th inning it's hard to tell what's happened beforehand.
As for staring - it's a tool in your tool belt. Consider it one of baseball non verbal communication methods to say, I heard you coach and that's enough. It's then up to the coach to decide what next step to take.
I wish MLB umpires weren't like Supreme Court Justices, where once they have the job, they have it for life. Umpires should be no different than players. If they under-perform, they should get sent back to the minors to retrain. There could easily be a grading system created for the umps (maybe one already exists) that should set a baseline that they need to maintain (including preserving "disorder"). If an ump falls below that baseline, they get sent down and a younger ump gets his chance in the majors (just like a player.)
I feel that if you got rid of all the poor performing umpires, electronic strike zones wouldn't need to be discussed. Many games, I evaluate the umpire more than watch the game, and there are a lot of good umps in MLB calling balls and strikes. They are as accurate as any of the current radar technology.
As bad as some MLB umpires can be NBA officiating is much worse. Too many referees retired over a five year period. There are now way too many young, inexperienced refs for a game that moves as fast as basketball.
It makes it really hard to watch a game with Tom Heinsohn now. Hes constantly whining. He’s actually right a lot of the time he’s whining. But who wants to hear it. I’m waiting for a ref to give him a T. They have to be able to hear him from courtside.
I'm sure that MLB umpires feel threatened by the increasing use of technology that exposes their mistakes (TV strike zone, super slow motion, instant replay), and I wonder if umpires are reacting to this and fighting back. If so, this would be a mistake. The best thing they can do to preserve their role is to act like ambassadors of the game as they go about their work and keep the fans on their side, much like the Queen of England. I believe that in spite of technology baseball fans want umpires (if only for the sake of tradition), but they won't tolerate them if bad behavior becomes the norm.
There are a few divas but the bigger problem is that at all levels it is getting more and more accepted to disrespect umpires. Mlb will always find umpires but at lower levels it will be getting harder and harder to find new umpires. I wouldn't want to do it.
Btw it is a myth that umpires are getting worse. Umpires are better than ever and they improved especially fast since pitch fx was installed as they are using it for training. There was a fangraphs article about this a couple years ago, even the bad ones like hernandez improved quite a bit, just not as fast as the rest of the league so relatively they got worse.
However there is a human limit to accuracy, just watch this if you think it is easy
https://twitter.com/RealKentMu...439357736767489?s=19
If you want more accuracy you need the robo ump which I think will come in 3-4 years.
Dominik85 posted:There are a few divas but the bigger problem is that at all levels it is getting more and more accepted to disrespect umpires. Mlb will always find umpires but at lower levels it will be getting harder and harder to find new umpires. I wouldn't want to do it.
I don't think people realize how hard it is to be an umpire behind the plate. The physical toll it can take. The potential injury. And the concentration required to call hundreds of pitches in a game, giving each one the same focused attention, from the first pitch, to the last. I do it, and am often exhausted afterwards. Not to mention knowing all the rules and situations at the drop of a hat at any point in the game. I certainly wouldn't do it for the pay alone if I didn't love the game.
Just my $.02.
I’ll take an unusual but consistent strike zone all day. If the P/C (and the batter) know that a pitch at the shoulders is a strike today, then so be it. Everyone knows where the map is. Act accordingly
And I’ll even take a miss of that consistent strike zone here and there. It happens, move on and hope the ump recognizes he made the mistake and gives it back where he can (close striball on a guy who has looked at strikes 1 and 2 is a good spot).
But when no one can predict where the strike zone will be from AB to AB or inning to inning, that’s where it just gets annoying (at best) for everyone.
Be careful what you wish for, because if you get it you may not want it.
Having sat in a clinic where someone who is now an MLB umpire was describing the process - I can tell you there is a review/rating system in place for umpires. At the time he was "on call" for injuries and vacations. Consider that umpires are essentially work for MLB. Like any good business, MLB cannot share "personnel decisions" with the whole world. They can discipline players, coaches, etc. and disseminate that because they work for clubs. Additionally, umpires are part of a union with an agreement with MLB which also has quite a bit of power at determining who/how umpires can be disciplined and left "on staff" longer than perhaps MLB and teams would like.
For those that still want to complain about strike zones... You work on your squats for 2-3 hours at a time, following a ball that moves pretty fast sometimes with very odd or last second movement, making split second decisions over its placement within a 3-D "view" while 2 other players are making plays on that ball, all while thinking at any one moment that ball could hit you either on the pitch (ouch), off the catcher (yay!), or off the bat (double ouch). I've said it before - if there's a technological system put in place, you can be sure some pitcher will figure a way (think eephus pitches) to get the ball "in the zone" that an otherwise human umpire would be hard pressed to call a strike.
On Wednesday...home game..... my son had the first two pitches (both very low) called strikes. He looked at the ump....the ump said "two inches below the bottom of the knee...it's gonna be that way all day" ...and it was pretty consistent. Fast forward to yesterday....same ump but at an away game...and the bottom of the zone was mid-thigh the entire game. You can't as an umpire, ump for the same team (or any teams for that matter).... 2 days apart and just make up what the zone is going to be that day.
So to follow up the above post. Had the same crew today. Bottom 8th, we're in the field....they have a guy on 3rd with 1 out. Fly ball to shallow left.....and our LF has a cannon. He catches it coming in...and we are shocked to see the runner at third break from home. LF throws an absolute laser.....catcher catches it on the fly about 6' feet up the 3B line. Runner is still 8-10' from getting to the catcher. Catcher just leans down and holds his glove on the ground....runner slides into it. Ump called "catcher interference" (not obstruction) and said the catcher can't block the plate. Our entire team and coaching staff went ballistic. Arguement ensues......no change in call, and home plate ump refused to ask for help. Our 1B was talking to the 1B ump after the play. He told us after the game that the ump said "I feel bad for you guys....but that's between us". Unbelievable. Worst part is we've had this same crew 7 games in a row.
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