Pitch Framing: A Sabermetric-Based Analysis of Twins Play-By-Play Broadcaster Dick Bremer

In this post, we'll be looking at the tendencies of longtime Twins play-by-play broadcaster Dick Bremer, who has a very specific methodology: Since it sounds more impressive when a pitcher hits the corner of the strike zone, any and all parts of the strike zone and its immediate surroundings qualify as "The Corner", and will be described as such when the opportunity arises.

Our analysis will include video breakdowns of the 11 instances of the word 'corner' being used by Bremer during the Twins' April 17th game versus the Toronto Blue Jays. To quantify each pitch, we will use an Actual Corner Value (how close a pitch actually comes to a corner of the strike zone) as well as a Broadcaster Corner Value (how close the pitch comes to the corner, as perceived and presented by Dick Bremer).

Pitch #1: Bottom 2nd, 2 outs, 1-2

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1118572113256833025

Pitcher: Aaron Sanchez

Throw: 96 mph fastball

Result: Strike 3

Dick's call: "On the outside corner, didn't waste it at all. Buried it on the outside corner."

Analysis: On a 1-2 pitch, Toronto pitcher Aaron Sanchez throws a 96 mph fastball at the outside edge of the plate, though it lands in the center third of the height of the zone with room to spare. Already, at this first sighting, we understand the challenge presented to Dick due to working on a television broadcast rather than radio, where pitch framing is sometimes less of an art and more the act of a used car salesman, free to invent whatever fiction will sell their desired narrative. Here, on TV, viewers can plainly see that this pitch is not on a corner. Dick, however, is unfazed, and reaches into his bag of tricks, declaring it on the corner not once, but TWICE - and not only stating its location, but insisting that it was BURIED there. This is the act of a seasoned professional, understanding that repetition and commitment are key to manipulating our perception, if not our very understanding of reality.

Actual Corner Value (ACV): 4/10

Broadcaster Corner Value (BCV): 10/10

Adjusted score: +6

Pitch #2: Bottom 3rd, 2 outs, 0-0

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1118754724696641536

Pitcher: Aaron Sanchez

Throw: 96 mph fastball

Result: Strike 1

Dick's Call: "Strike on the outside corner."

Analysis: Someday, electronic strike zones will lord over our game as unfeeling adjudicators, but until that day, they serve merely as proxy armchair quarterbacks - a tool we rely on as viewers to feel validated in our desire to maim and/or injure the home plate umpire for their imperfections. On this pitch, Fox Trax smugly refuses to fill in the outline of the ball's arrival point, declaring that this pitch was a ball and all those who disagree are filthy heretics.

How comforting it is, then, for Dick to step in and remind all of us that in the end, the strike zone is defined solely by what the umpire says it is, no matter how many cameras and scanners say otherwise. This pitch is not outside. It is on the corner. The umpire's corner.

ACV: 7/10

BCV: 8/10

Adjusted score: +1

Pitch #3: Top 4th, 1 out, 1-0

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1118755023842729984

Pitcher: Kyle Gibson

Throw: 94 mph fastball

Result: Strike 1

Dick's Call: "And now an outside corner fastball to even the count."

Analysis: Kyle Gibson started the 2017 season as someone fans understood to be roster filler, but ended it on an underappreciated upward trend. In 2018, he broke out with his best season to date and cemented his position at the front of the Twins rotation. Now, in 2019, he has started off somewhat shaky, with a suspect ERA and the need to make it deeper into ball games.

On this pitch, Dick has his pitcher's back, finding the corner where one does not exist. Catcher Mitch Garver positioned his glove exactly on the corner, and while Kyle missed his target high, he still found the edge and a called strike. For Dick, this is enough. He has earned approbation in the eyes of the telecast.

ACV: 5/10

BCV: 8/10

Adjusted score: +3

Pitch #4: Top 6th, 0 outs, 0-1

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1118755338788851712

Pitcher: Kyle Gibson

Throw: 93 mph fastball

Result: Strike 2

Dick's Call: "On the outside corner with a fastball."

Analysis: Freddy Galvis must be listening to Dick through AirPods under that helmet, because his face says what we all know in our hearts: That was a meatball of a pitch, and Dick Bremer is a hero for carrying on the cause, however lost it may be.

ACV: 2/10

BCV: 7/10

Adjusted score: +5

Pitch #5: Top 6th, 2 outs, 0-0

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1118755513288626176

Pitcher: Ryne Harper

Throw: 74 mph breaking ball

Result: Strike 1

Dick's Call: "Breaking ball on the outside corner, strike one."

Analysis: Is this pitch actually in the corner of the strike zone? Yes! The arc of the baseball tucks itself into the furthest nook available to it. In times like these, where no deception is necessary, you might expect that Dick Bremer would bluster and harangue us with unfettered righteousness, knowing that there can be no doubt as to where the ball landed. However, Dick finds a gentle touch in his commentary, content to let the pitch speak for itself, a simple declaration of its corner-ness being satisfactory. It needs no help, and will be allowed to lift its own weight.

ACV: 9/10

BCV: 9/10

Adjusted score: 0

Pitch #6: Bottom 6th, 0 outs, 0-0

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1118755746894639104

Pitcher: Aaron Sanchez

Throw: 94 mph fastball

Result: Strike 1

Dick's Call: "Strike on the outside corner."

Analysis: A location extremely similar to pitch #2, though now delivered with an additional hint of defeat, as it arrives against the hot bat of Jorge Polanco. Immediately after listing his current bona fides, Polanco falls victim to the quantum state of the umpire's zone. While he was fooled, Dick was not, and he wearily sheds the burden he has carried throughout this pitch, allowing us all to taste from the tree of knowledge.

ACV: 9/10

BCV: 9/10

Adjusted score: 0

Pitch #7: Bottom 7th, 2 outs, 0-0

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1118756058548170752

Pitcher: Thomas Pannone

Throw: 74 mph breaking ball

Result: Strike 1

Dick's Call: "Breaking ball over the inside corner."

Analysis: The work of a true master is present here, and we must parse the commentary carefully. The Twins are behind, but the tying run is at the plate. Now is the time for hope, and Kepler has watched a first pitch strike sail past him. Does the pitch find the corner? By exact definition, no. However, it is an excellent pitch - if one ignores that catcher Danny Jansen is set up on the exact opposite spot of the strike zone. Dick refuses to give Pannone the total satisfaction of finding the corner - stating that it is simply OVER the corner - while still testifying that it is a fine pitch. By Dick's standards, this is a backhanded compliment.

ACV: 8/10

BCV: 9/10

Adjusted score: +1

Pitch #8: Top 8th, 0 outs, 2-2

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1118756254917120000

Pitcher: Tyler Duffey

Throw: 95 mph fastball

Result: Strike 3

Dick's Call: "On the outside corner. 95 on the outside edge or thereabouts, one away."

Analysis: NO! This is Duffey's first game back in the majors this season, and wanting to bolster his confidence, our protagonist has overextended himself, daring to go where others fear to tread, well outside the zone and at the exact vertical center. Corners have not existed in these parts since the days of Marty Foster's gift-wrapped delivery of Joe Nathan's 300th save. And yet, with zero hesitation, Dick plants his flag - immediately realizing that he has made a grave error. It will not be enough to double down on his argument, as was the case on Pitch #1. He knows when he has been beaten, and he retreats at the first opportunity.

It must also be noted that at the end of the clip, one can hear a chuckle from today's analyst, Jack "Back in My Day" Morris. This will be one of the few times during today's broadcast that I agree with him.

ACV: 1/10

BCV: 0/10

Adjusted score: -1

Pitch #9: Bottom 8th, 0 outs, 3-0

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1119309223332986880

Pitcher: Joe Biagini

Throw: 94 mph fastball

Result: Strike 1

Dick's Call: "On the outside corner."

Analysis: Matter of fact. All business. The pitch arrived enough within the margin of error that Bremer presents his truth with the cadence of a trusted newsman.

ACV: 7/10

BCV: 8/10

Adjusted Score: +1

Pitch #10: Bottom 9th, 0 outs, 0-0

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1119309442338541568

Pitcher: Ken Giles

Throw: 87 mph "fastball"

Result: Strike 1

Dick's Call: "On the outside corner, strike 1."

Analysis: The drama is beginning to rise, as the Twins are down to their final three outs, behind by a single run, and sending Nelson Cruz to the plate as a pinch hitter. Once again, the ball is only in the corner's general aura, but Dick knows we are too excited to notice, and continues past it without pause.

ACV: 6/10

BCV: 8/10

Adjusted score: +2

Pitch 11: Bot 9th, 1 out, 3-1

https://twitter.com/GoTwinkiesGo/status/1119309817019944960

Pitcher: Ken Giles

Throw: 97 mph fastball

Result: Strike 2

Dick's Call: "Strike two on the outside corner... 97 in a REAL GOOD SPOT."

Analysis: Perfection. Mastery. Finally, near the climax of this game, we find what has eluded us: A true corner, spotted in the wild for all of us to enjoy, and Dick refuses to let it go to waste. His initial hushed tones give way to wonder and amazement, before his final accentuation that not only hammers home the exact precision of this corner, but makes us feel that we too knew it all along, even if we didn't happen to be looking at the TV at the time. Even if we didn't know what a strike zone was. All of us, collectively, knew what we had seen. We are enlightened and made whole. We are one with baseball, and one with each other.

ACV: 10/10

BCV: 12/10

Adjusted score: +2

Final Score: +20 Adjusted Corner Value

This concludes part one of this series. Stay tuned for part two, when we extend our gaze to the rest of the strike zone, and learn about the subtext necessary when one is not allowed to call a professional baseball player a 'belly itcher' and get away with it for long. In the meantime, for my research purposes, please share any high-BCV highlights for your team of choice in the comments.