Missed calls in Baseball

Klaaxctuu

Klaaxctuu

Six-man fan
What is going on with all the missed calls between Texas and Arizona? I thought every pitch in the generated box was either a hit of a strike, and every pitch outside that box was a ball. If the ball is on the outline of the box, it depends on if it is more strike or ball. Last night and the night before in game 3, there was one called strike when the ball was three inches outside the box that was called a strike (the batter did not move) and vice versa in game 4. Why is this not discussed by the sports press or anyone that cares about the validity of the game? We have the tech to make this work without blind umps, human factor or not.
 
The curveball can be off the plate after appearing to be crossing the plate. That's why those pitchers are so highly paid. I thought the plate umpire was very consistent. No umpire will get every call right but the umpires have been consistent in my opinion. Left-handed pitchers are a whole other discussion on pitching. You need to have played some baseball to understand.
 
Klaaxctuu said:
What is going on with all the missed calls between Texas and Arizona? I thought every pitch in the generated box was either a hit of a strike, and every pitch outside that box was a ball. If the ball is on the outline of the box, it depends on if it is more strike or ball. Last night and the night before in game 3, there was one called strike when the ball was three inches outside the box that was called a strike (the batter did not move) and vice versa in game 4. Why is this not discussed by the sports press or anyone that cares about the validity of the game? We have the tech to make this work without blind umps, human factor or not.
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That is the computer strike zone. In a perfect world, with no human error/adjustment, the umpire's strike zone would perfectly mirror the computer's. However, each umpire has his own strike zone based on what he sees and how he sees it, which is slightly different than the computer/perfect strike zone. So, it's a bit subjective. Some are a bit wider, some a bit tighter, some a bit lower, etc. A few inches of difference here and there is ok; the key is to make consistent calls. The players adjust from there.
 
Texlonghorn75 said:
The curveball can be off the plate after appearing to be crossing the plate. That's why those pitchers are so highly paid. I thought the plate umpire was very consistent. No umpire will get every call right but the umpires have been consistent in my opinion. Left-handed pitchers are a whole other discussion on pitching. You need to have played some baseball to understand.
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Not all of them have been consistent.

 
No…but if the technology is there to perfect the strike zone, there’s no reason not to do it. You can still have human umps to hurry the game along but balls and strikes shouldn’t be debatable these days.

You said overall the ump did a good job. No he didn’t. His correct % was under 90%…so he’s missing a call every 10 pitches. That’s awful and there’s no excuse for it. That guy was the 77th best ump in the league. Why is he calling a WS game??
 
SixManNewb said:
No…but if the technology is there to perfect the strike zone, there’s no reason not to do it. You can still have human umps to hurry the game along but balls and strikes shouldn’t be debatable these days.

You said overall the ump did a good job. No he didn’t. His correct % was under 90%…so he’s missing a call every 10 pitches. That’s awful and there’s no excuse for it. That guy was the 77th best ump in the league. Why is he calling a WS game??
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That's a terrible percentage, especially for a WS.

Man, I was wondering why he was calling such a tight plate.

On a side note, I do really like the pitch clock. It makes the game go a lot smoother.
 
Really all you are looking for is consistency from the home plate.. if an ump is at 90% correct but has been consistent the whole game, like calling a strike that is barely touching the bottom part of the zone a ball the whole night, then the hitters can adjust to that.

AZ got a bit rattled I think, which led them to thinking every call they didnt like was completely wrong.
 
pistol said:
Really all you are looking for is consistency from the home plate.. if an ump is at 90% correct but has been consistent the whole game, like calling a strike that is barely touching the bottom part of the zone a ball the whole night, then the hitters can adjust to that.

AZ got a bit rattled I think, which led them to thinking every call they didnt like was completely wrong.
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You know what’s consistent? Computers. I coached baseball for many years. I used to ask my kids the definition of a strike. After they said all the usual stuff, I’d say “wrong. A strike is anything the umpire says is a strike.” That’s something you just have to live with at lower levels but you don’t have to settle in MLB.
 
SixManNewb said:
You know what’s consistent? Computers. I coached baseball for many years. I used to ask my kids the definition of a strike. After they said all the usual stuff, I’d say “wrong. A strike is anything the umpire says is a strike.” That’s something you just have to live with at lower levels but you don’t have to settle in MLB.
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ok cool.. but computers aren't calling it at the moment, humans are. SO what you want them to be is consistent with their strike zone. Do I care if they change it to an automated strike zone this off season?? NOPE, that sounds good to me
 
Why do umpires wear suit jackets? ...tradition
Why do managers/coaches where uniforms? ...tradition
Why is there a ceremonial first pitch? ...tradition
Why is there a 7th inning stretch? ...tradition
Why do umpires call games, instead of computers? ...tradition (lol)

Baseball is steeped in tradition, probably far more than any other sport. I, for one, would like to keep it that way by keeping humans as umpires.
 
kdstew3 said:
Why do umpires wear suit jackets? ...tradition
Why do managers/coaches where uniforms? ...tradition
Why is there a ceremonial first pitch? ...tradition
Why is there a 7th inning stretch? ...tradition
Why do umpires call games, instead of computers? ...tradition (lol)

Baseball is steeped in tradition, probably far more than any other sport. I, for one, would like to keep it that way by keeping humans as umpires.
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The tough part of calling balls and strikes is when the ball is over part of plate but ends up outside of the plate. So is that a ball or a strike? A lefthander throws a winding curveball which starts on the left side of the plate and ends up outside on the right side while passing over the plate, is that a ball or a strike? I don't see a computer being able to decide those calls. All those sinker pitches which never make it to the plate are strikes because the batter swings at them but would never be a strike with computers calling the strikes. Go figure.
 
Texlonghorn75 said:
The tough part of calling balls and strikes is when the ball is over part of plate but ends up outside of the plate. So is that a ball or a strike? A lefthander throws a winding curveball which starts on the left side of the plate and ends up outside on the right side while passing over the plate, is that a ball or a strike? I don't see a computer being able to decide those calls. All those sinker pitches which never make it to the plate are strikes because the batter swings at them but would never be a strike with computers calling the strikes. Go figure.
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The robo-umps take all that into account. A pitch that is over part of the plate but then ends up wide of it is a strike. Those are the pitches humans are missing that computers get right. Also, a sinker pitch that gets swung at is a strike because the batter swung, not because the umpire called it a strike based on location.
 
Why call it a 'tight" plate? That implies some umps call a lose plate. The pitch is either a STRIKE, a BALL, a FOUL, or a HIT and there should not be an ounce of doubt as to the result of every pitch. I am not even sure if the last pitch was a strike.
 
I like having the human element of umpires/referees in all sports. You won't find a sport without certain judgement calls that can be made by the refs/umps that can dramatically change the outcome of the game, but it's been that way since the inception of those sports and I don't want to see it changed now. I've had my teams lose because of the refs/umps and I've seen my teams win with a little bit of their help. It goes both ways but it's part of the game. Just like foul calls in basketball, and pass interference in football, balls and strikes are a judgement call made by the umpire. Most of the time they'll be right, but they'll get some wrong. The thing is, they'll get some wrong for every team. My biggest issue is umpires who don't have a consistent strike zone for both pitchers. When the ump's strike zone is at least consistent, even from game to game, the pitchers and batters can figure it out and it's no big deal for either team.

All that said, I would like to see them give each team X number of challenges that can be used to challenge the ball/strike call, similar to tennis where they use the computer to challenge whether a ball was in or out. With all the technology and all the cameras on the fields, everything should be challengeable, in all sports. I hate it when I hear the announcers say "that's not challengeable". Well why not? That's just pure silliness.
 
Baseball will cease to exist like we know it if you try to place a computer review/control over every aspect possible. We need to remember it is a sport for enjoyment, so all those bragging rights are meaningless at the end of the day, the results just determine who buys the beer.
 
DOWNBOX said:
Play all sports the way they were invented.
Allow human errors.
No-one is perfect,.
Why let technology ruin something you enjoy.
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Oh, I agree, but that's simply not gonna happen at this point. The best we can hope for is that it's a happy medium and they don't try to get computers to completely take over all aspects of calling the games. I think the way it is now is just fine. Give each team X number of challenges that they must utilize in the most crucial times of the game and leave the rest of the game alone. I just think if you're going to allow challenges for one specific play, allow challenges for them all, but keep the number of challenges per team, per game, low.
 
Klaaxctuu said:
Why call it a 'tight" plate? That implies some umps call a lose plate. The pitch is either a STRIKE, a BALL, a FOUL, or a HIT and there should not be an ounce of doubt as to the result of every pitch. I am not even sure if the last pitch was a strike.
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Probably because I'm not really a baseball savant. It's what popped into my head at the moment. 🥴
 

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