Baseball Umpires

[1bigdawg]

This cannot come to college too soon.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/07/11/mlb-trackman-system-makes-history-calls-balls-and-strikes-pro-game/1702431001/

[Cooterpoot]

Disagree. Bad for the game.

[Tbonewannabe]

Disagree. Bad for the game.

I don't see how having a set strike zone is bad for the game. With the system in place, we might have been playing Vandy for a chance at the National Title Game. Cole definitely got screwed the last inning on the strike zone. When the strike zone changes, either a pitcher or hitter gets screwed.

[Quaoarsking]

Excellent news. Bad calls ruin the integrity of the game.

[Dawg2003]

Good. Automate it.

[TUSK]

Any chance they could do something like this for football? At least for calls on the sidelines, goal lines, 1st Downs, etc....

[Tbonewannabe]

Any chance they could do something like this for football? At least for calls on the sidelines, goal lines, 1st Downs, etc....

I like the idea of chips in the footballs to detect exactly where on the field the ball is for marking TDs and first downs. I also liked the review referee going over the call as they looked at the play. It gives more clarification on how they come to their conclusions for the reviews. That league got several things correct in their forward thinking.

The more human error you take out of the calls on the field then the more accurate the result. It would be great to not have a flag or umpire call determining the outcome of a game especially if the umpire gets it wrong.

[Todd4State]

I am all for robot umpires. The game is simply too fast at the collegiate level. And it removed any "don't like Mississippi" bias.

[Jack Lambert]

Any chance they could do something like this for football? At least for calls on the sidelines, goal lines, 1st Downs, etc....

That would kill Alabama.*****

[TUSK]

That would kill Alabama.*****

nice!

[BrunswickDawg]

I like the idea of chips in the footballs to detect exactly where on the field the ball is for marking TDs and first downs. I also liked the review referee going over the call as they looked at the play. It gives more clarification on how they come to their conclusions for the reviews. That league got several things correct in their forward thinking.

The more human error you take out of the calls on the field then the more accurate the result. It would be great to not have a flag or umpire call determining the outcome of a game especially if the umpire gets it wrong.

I've yet to understand how we can have quick, accurate review of where a tennis ball hits on a court and we can't figure out how to do the same thing for if a ball crosses the plane of the goal line.

[ScoobaDawg]

I like the idea of chips in the footballs to detect exactly where on the field the ball is for marking TDs and first downs. I also liked the review referee going over the call as they looked at the play. It gives more clarification on how they come to their conclusions for the reviews. That league got several things correct in their forward thinking.

The more human error you take out of the calls on the field then the more accurate the result. It would be great to not have a flag or umpire call determining the outcome of a game especially if the umpire gets it wrong.

I've wondered when this technology would come along for 20 years. I don't how you would do it though. GPS isn't accurate enough. RFID I guess... don't know enough about it.. and where you would need sensors to check in..


and on the original topic. All in favor of it. Same with if you can track a football, you can track a baseball's contact with a glove or foot's contact with a base.

[BrunswickDawg]

I've wondered when this technology would come along for 20 years. I don't how you would do it though. GPS isn't accurate enough. RFID I guess... don't know enough about it.. and where you would need sensors to check in..


and on the original topic. All in favor of it. Same with if you can track a football, you can track a baseball's contact with a glove or foot's contact with a base.

How can FOX give me those crazy 360 camera freeze frame things right after a play, but we can't use that for replay to see if a catch is a catch or a ball crosses a line?

[Cooterpoot]

I don't see how having a set strike zone is bad for the game. With the system in place, we might have been playing Vandy for a chance at the National Title Game. Cole definitely got screwed the last inning on the strike zone. When the strike zone changes, either a pitcher or hitter gets screwed.

Because adjusting to a zone is part of the game. It’s one of those things that needs to be in the game.

[ScoobaDawg]

Because adjusting to a zone is part of the game. It’s one of those things that needs to be in the game.

I disagree. but respect your opinion.
Rules are rules. if technology can make the game "better" by ruling out bias and mistakes by umpires. the game will be better. Both sides will adjust and know that the zone is truly what it is supposed to be.
I think in the end that favors the hitter though maybe.

[Quaoarsking]

Because adjusting to a zone is part of the game. It’s one of those things that needs to be in the game.

No it doesn't. Any given pitch to a batter should either be 100% undeniably strike regardless of umpire or 100% undeniably ball from all umpires. If the pitcher threw a strike by the definition, it cheapens the game if he doesn't get credit for it.

[Todd4State]

No it doesn't. Any given pitch to a batter should either be 100% undeniably strike regardless of umpire or 100% undeniably ball from all umpires. If the pitcher threw a strike by the definition, it cheapens the game if he doesn't get credit for it.

Exactly. I think it would enhance the game because sometimes even at the MLB level it's almost a guessing game as to where the strike zone is (Hi Angel Hernandez!). And in college the bad thing is more often than not the strike zone moves around.

[BeardoMSU]

Any chance they could do something like this for football? At least for calls on the sidelines, goal lines, 1st Downs, etc....

You must be tired of winning games**

[BeardoMSU]

Exactly. And in college the bad thing is more often than not the strike zone moves around.

Especially in the college game. Umps at this level are essentially amateurs with zero accountability. They're clown shoes.

[Cooterpoot]

No it doesn't. Any given pitch to a batter should either be 100% undeniably strike regardless of umpire or 100% undeniably ball from all umpires. If the pitcher threw a strike by the definition, it cheapens the game if he doesn't get credit for it.

And when that zone is more easily adapted to by the hitters, and it will be, pitching takes another hit, along with juiced balls, and stealing 1B, the game will be ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with the umpires. You guys are pissy because you think we could’ve won the CWS with a zone. We couldn’t have.
The answer is to fire the shitty handful of guys that suck instead of continuing to use them. A lot of those guys have ties to a school and politics keep them around. Eliminate that crap, not change the game.

[Todd4State]

Especially in the college game. Umps at this level are essentially amateurs with zero accountability. They're clown shoes.

And on the extreme side- you have umpires like the home plate umpire for MSU/Louisville. That game in and of itself should be exhibit A as to why human beings shouldn't be making ball/strike calls at this level of college baseball.

[Todd4State]

And when that zone is more easily adapted to by the hitters, and it will be, pitching takes another hit, along with juiced balls, and stealing 1B, the game will be ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with the umpires. You guys are pissy because you think we could’ve won the CWS with a zone. We couldn’t have.
The answer is to fire the shitty handful of guys that suck instead of continuing to use them. A lot of those guys have ties to a school and politics keep them around. Eliminate that crap, not change the game.

I've been saying that the NCAA and MLB for that matter should do away with umpires calling balls and strikes for years. It made sense for humans to make those decisions in 1876. It doesn't make sense now above the D-2 college baseball level.

[BeardoMSU]

And on the extreme side- you have umpires like the home plate umpire for MSU/Louisville. That game in and of itself should be exhibit A as to why human beings shouldn't be making ball/strike calls at this level of college baseball.

Exactly.

[Tbonewannabe]

And when that zone is more easily adapted to by the hitters, and it will be, pitching takes another hit, along with juiced balls, and stealing 1B, the game will be ridiculous. There?s nothing wrong with the umpires. You guys are pissy because you think we could?ve won the CWS with a zone. We couldn?t have.
The answer is to fire the shitty handful of guys that suck instead of continuing to use them. A lot of those guys have ties to a school and politics keep them around. Eliminate that crap, not change the game.

How exactly does having the rules more enforceable change the game? Baseball is a weird sport in that the ump behind the plate dictates how the game is played. Would you like it if first downs in football were randomly 7 yards and then the next quarter 15 yards? That is what a moving strikezone does to the game. Or how about a team only has to go 90 yards for a TD then they kickoff and the other team has to go 110 yards? Is that a truly level playing field? If we could fix it, why wouldn't we? Just because it is tradition to have umps decide the outcome sometimes?

[maroonmania]

Because adjusting to a zone is part of the game. It?s one of those things that needs to be in the game.

You can't adjust to something that's constantly moving. See our game with Louisville when what was a strike in the first half of the game was no longer called a strike in the last half (at least for us). I am all for the electronic zone. A strike should be a defined strike. Not a subjective ruling by a guy behind the plate that doesn't even have as good a view as me watching on TV from home.

[Cooterpoot]

You can't adjust to something that's constantly moving. See our game with Louisville when what was a strike in the first half of the game was no longer called a strike in the last half (at least for us). I am all for the electronic zone. A strike should be a defined strike. Not a subjective ruling by a guy behind the plate that doesn't even have as good a view as me watching on TV from home.

Rarely do you get a changing zone in a game. Again, another pissed off fan because we didn’t win it all. Never mind we sucked the last part of the year. And never mind a lot of those pitches the fans were bitching about were actually strikes based on the computer zone. Adjustments have always been part of the game. It’s also part of what makes a great hitter and pitcher. The exact same zone every game is a huge help to the hitters.

[Todd4State]

Rarely do you get a changing zone in a game. Again, another pissed off fan because we didn’t win it all. Never mind we sucked the last part of the year. And never mind a lot of those pitches the fans were bitching about were actually strikes based on the computer zone. Adjustments have always been part of the game. It’s also part of what makes a great hitter and pitcher. The exact same zone every game is a huge help to the hitters.

Maybe not at the MLB level. But it's very common to see it in college baseball. in fact I go to a college game expecting it. And how did we "suck" the last part of the year? We swept through our regional and Super Regional and played pretty respectably in the CWS. I think we were the only team to go undefeated through both the regionals and SR and we won all of those games with ease.

[Quaoarsking]

Rarely do you get a changing zone in a game. Again, another pissed off fan because we didn?t win it all. Never mind we sucked the last part of the year. And never mind a lot of those pitches the fans were bitching about were actually strikes based on the computer zone. Adjustments have always been part of the game. It?s also part of what makes a great hitter and pitcher. The exact same zone every game is a huge help to the hitters.

No one is changing a long-standing opinion because it happened not to work out for us this year. Maybe next year we will win it all thanks to a bad umpire.

Personally, I'd rather win when we deserve it and lose when the other team deserves it, instead of just having it be random. I've advocated for using computers to help call baseball games (as well as other sports) for over 20 years.

[RougeDawg]

Rarely do you get a changing zone in a game. Again, another pissed off fan because we didn?t win it all. Never mind we sucked the last part of the year. And never mind a lot of those pitches the fans were bitching about were actually strikes based on the computer zone. Adjustments have always been part of the game. It?s also part of what makes a great hitter and pitcher. The exact same zone every game is a huge help to the hitters.

Going to assume you?ve watched absolutely 0.00000 baseball games if you think the zone does not change within a game. I highly recommend electricity and a color television.