Balls and strikes called incorrectly 1 out 5 times

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

World Series ball-strike calling has been atrocious the last two games. I’d bet one in five borderline calls have been missed, easily.

[wavedog]

Yes, particularly last night's game. If you are going to miss calls in and out of the zone at least be consistent.  The strike 3 call on Robles defied explanation but was superceded by the ball call on the Houston batter that was close to the middle of the plate.  The bad calls seemed to have favored Houston but that could just be because they are playing better.  

 

The other interesting call from 2 nights ago was in the 7th inning when on a 3-2 count the runner ran from first.  The pitch was in the strike zone but the catcher was moving up to attempt to throw the runner out - so that movement distracted the Umpire's view.  What should have been a strikeout-throwout DP instead was a walk and 2 men on.   Astros ended up getting 4 runs that inning.  Point being if we had an auto-mated strike zone it would not be distracted by catcher movement that the umpire is subject to.      

[biggentleben]

 

But I think this AFL test signals some serious interest from MLB. I think it's only a matter of time now, and I'm not opposed.

 

The American Association and AFL are MLB's test grounds. Very likely there are tweaks to come from the AFL experiment based on reports from players and umpires involved, but all in all, both players and umpires appreciated the consistency of the zone game in, game out.

[rdehring]

Have thought for some time that there is another option between home plate ump and robo.  What if there wasa 5th umpire for each game, sitting in the press box with the electronic strike zone in front of him.  He would have voice contact with the home plate ump.  If the strike/ball call is clearly wrong, he tells him and the ump changes it.  Would only do so on calls that were clearly wrong, ie, balls totally out of the zone that were called strikes or balls clearly in the zone that were called balls.  Probably isn't more than a handful or so each game.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Have thought for some time that there is another option between home plate ump and robo.  What if there wasa 5th umpire for each game, sitting in the press box with the electronic strike zone in front of him.  He would have voice contact with the home plate ump.  If the strike/ball call is clearly wrong, he tells him and the ump changes it.  Would only do so on calls that were clearly wrong, ie, balls totally out of the zone that were called strikes or balls clearly in the zone that were called balls.  Probably isn't more than a handful or so each game.

I think that's almost worse than the current system, because players and managers will essentially try to appeal to the video ump. (And will kick up an even bigger fuss if the video ump passes on changing a call.) At least now their objections are mostly for show, and can't possibly change a call (except influencing a makeup call later).

 

Note that even with automated balls and strikes, there will still be a home plate ump, and they'll even have to render their own judgement should there be any problem with the automated system (not sure how often that has happened in testing).

 

Although for replay in the field (not ball/strike calls), I love the idea of an extra video ump, and wish that took the place of the silly challenge system.

[biggentleben]

The "robo ump" can be overridden by the human ump. The AFL had almost no overrides by the umps, but in the American Association once it was implemented, it was usually multiple times per game that the ump overruled the robo ump. The umps were reviewed based on the times that they overruled the system and the pitches that they overruled.

[h2oface]

I can't remember what it was, but my daughter and I were watching umpires being interviewed about the "tool" that was originated to help them improve their pitch calling........ and none interviewed would even review their calls and check to see how well they were doing, and had total disdain for the whole idea of automation. That should say it all about them trying to get better on their own. 

 

In regards to the AFL article, and the whining about the low and high pitches on curves and breaking pitches being called strikes...... THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE STRIKES! And they have always missed the calls, because they are guessing and can't see the perfect pitches that just touch the very edge of the 3 deminsional area that the ball passes through. Just because they have never called them correctly, does not mean that they haven't always been missed calls. It just shows how this system will finally have a rule that is called correctly, and reward the greatest pitches that have been missed, or the greatest takes. 

[Nine of twelve]

Horrible, horrible strike 3 call for the first out in the bottom of the 8th in game 7. At least 6 inches inside. 

Whether it impacts the outcome of the game or not it was shameful. No robo-ump would have missed that one.

Edited to add: HP umpire is Jim Wolf.

[biggentleben]

 

Horrible, horrible strike 3 call for the first out in the bottom of the 8th in game 7. At least 6 inches inside. 

Whether it impacts the outcome of the game or not it was shameful. No robo-ump would have missed that one.

Edited to add: HP umpire is Jim Wolf.

 

Wolf is also one of the most respected umpires in the game. He sets a zone and sticks to it all game. He's had the same zone throughout. Different pitchers make it look potentially wider or taller, but he's tremendously consistent. One of my favorite in the game to have behind the plate in a game I'm watching.

[ashbury]

Wolf is also one of the most respected umpires in the game. He sets a zone and sticks to it all game. He's had the same zone throughout. Different pitchers make it look potentially wider or taller, but he's tremendously consistent. One of my favorite in the game to have behind the plate in a game I'm watching.

I thought he had an overall good game also.

 

For a human.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Horrible, horrible strike 3 call for the first out in the bottom of the 8th in game 7. At least 6 inches inside. 

Whether it impacts the outcome of the game or not it was shameful. No robo-ump would have missed that one.

Edited to add: HP umpire is Jim Wolf.

I agree with the above posters. The strike zone was well called and virtually invisible tonight—except for that one call you mentioned.

[h2oface]

 

Wolf is also one of the most respected umpires in the game. He sets a zone and sticks to it all game. He's had the same zone throughout. Different pitchers make it look potentially wider or taller, but he's tremendously consistent. One of my favorite in the game to have behind the plate in a game I'm watching.

 

I didn't see him make calls 6 plus inches off the plate all night. So I don't know how that was consistent.

 

The ol' consistently wrong, like setting a zone and being consistently wrong and sticking with it is the spirit of the rule, or good for the game? How do we get trained to accept errors just because they are consistently called? I will never understand why some think that makes it OK.