For crying out loud, can MLB please implement an electronic strike zone already?

[spiritof66]

How about this?

Beginning with 15 games left in the season, games between teams that have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs will use electronic ball-and-strike umpires.

in each playoff series, electronic umpiring will be used if both teams agree.

[DrungoHazewood]

On 8/6/2020 at 11:07 AM, DrungoHazewood said:

Homers are down from 1.39 to 1.19 per game (still super high, third highest ever).  It would be a bit of work to separate out the short games on game time, but the overall average is only three minutes off last year.

So a couple weeks later batting average has crept up to .240, which would be just the 4th-lowest of all time.  But homers now stand at 1.31 team/game, which is 2nd-highest of all time behind only last season.  Any thought that they unjuiced the ball seems unfounded. 

SSS, but singles, doubles, and triples are all down a little.  K's just barely off last year's record pace, and walks a up a bit.  So, if anything, we're continuing on the trend of three true outcomes baseball. 

I watched QuickPitch yesterday and probably 60% of the highlights were a big uppercut swing followed by everyone watching a homer land 19 empty rows up in the stands.  And that number includes them showing the random last out of every game, which was a strikeout more than 1/3 of the time.

Game times sitting on 3:08, 2nd-longest of all time.

[CarrRun49]

12 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

The Soto at bat from today.  He did not swing.

He got half of them right...is that good?

That punchout was atrocious lol.  Was a total " F U" to Martinez and Sanchez.

[Number5]

How do these 2-dimensional renderings work?  The strike zone, of course, is 3-dimentional.  Think cube, rather than square.  Pitch 6 in the rendering Corn provided appears to be an atrocious call (as CarrRun49 said above it may have been a FU to the Nats), and pitch 3 looks like a clear miss.  Pitch 5, however is either a strike, or, if not, is as close as a pitch can possibly come without hitting the zone.  Remember, if any part of the ball touches any part of the zone, it is a strike.  I wonder at what point the slice of the zone that is shown takes place.  If it is anywhere except the very front of the plate, pitch 5 would almost surely be a strike, it seems to me, as the ball gets lower as it passes through the zone.  Poor umpiring for sure, as to call pitch 3 a ball and pitch 5 a strike is without question inconsistent.  Though pitch 5 does look to me like it may well have been a strike, I get the Nationals being upset by that strike call after seeing the poor ball call on pitch 3.  Players try to adapt during the game to the umpire's zone, and when the guy has no clear zone, it can get ridiculous for both teams.  I will say that, IMO, between those 2 pitches, pitch 3 is clearly the worse call.

[Can_of_corn]

[Beef Supreme]

I was lqtm-ing earlier this evening ("laughing quietly to myself") when I was thinking about your role as a moderator on OH, Weams, and the responsibilities you undertake while reading a now-locked thread. I think you do a fine job. In theme with this thread you started, maybe the Hangout needs an "electronic moderator," like MLB needs an electronic strike zone. Then when posters get jacked up about a post and their appeals come in, Michael, you could be like the Booth in New York and wield your determination. You couldn't do worse than the MLB umpire appeals crew does percentage wise. And I like to imagine you swinging a gavel -- that could be your next avatar.

[section18]

This may rank as one of the worst home plate umpired series of all time with consistently missed strike calls that appeared on the line of the electronic zone. It became laughable after the second game. Even Bordick could not make excuses for the umps. As I told a friend the Jays must have given the umps free dinner night at the best restaurant in Buffalo for all of the two strike at bats that became ball fours instead of strike threes and ended up hurting the Orioles. If the head of the umpires reviewed each game in this series they would understand the need for an electronic zone.

[Can_of_corn]

When the catcher sets up wide, then goes further out to get it and it's still called a strike.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=b23eddda-78c4-4f63-89d1-413faaeb3b3b&videoType=AWAY

[Morgan423]

13 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

When the catcher sets up wide, then goes further out to get it and it's still called a strike.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=b23eddda-78c4-4f63-89d1-413faaeb3b3b&videoType=AWAY

That's ridiculous. 18 inches into the opposite batter's box is not the strike zone.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Morgan423 said:

That's ridiculous. 18 inches into the opposite batter's box is not the strike zone.

Imagine being the ump and having to defend that call when they have the post game performance review.

[SteveA]

The Giants need to win to make the playoffs.  They trailed by a run in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and no one on.

A guy named Slater with a .418 OBP was up.   The Giants' best hitter, Mike Yastrzemski, was on deck.   Slater was called out on strikes on a ball that was clearly not a strike.   It ended the game, and the Giants' season, and sent the Brewers to the playoffs.

 

The White Sox trailed 10-8 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th.   If they lost the game they would fall to the 7 seed.   If they won the game, and the Twins lost, they would win the division and be the #3 seed.   At the time, Cincinnati had scored 3 in the top of the 10th at Minnesota so a Twin loss was likely.

White Sox got a man on so the tie run was at the plate.   Nomar Mazara.   He was called out on a ball that was probably not a strike, to end the game.   To give the Twins the division title and knock Chicago from possibly being a 3 seed to being the 7 seed.

 

Critical, questionable ball strike calls on the last pitch of the last game for two different teams made a huge difference in who gets in the postseason and who gets what seed.

[Oriole1940]

I learned when playing college ball that if the time of day is late, a rainshower is coming up, or any other happening causes the game to last longer than the umps think it should,  that they call it a strike,  if the catcher caught the ball.   Just a word to the wise.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Oriole1940 said:

I learned when playing college ball that if the time of day is late, a rainshower is coming up, or any other happening causes the game to last longer than the umps think it should,  that they call it a strike,  if the catcher caught the ball.   Just a word to the wise.

Right, but one would hope that professionals at the highest level would be above that sort of behavior.

[Just Regular]

As MLB was bouncing around, one of the Giants other final six outs was a punch out of Longoria in the 8th that also looked like a pretty bad call, on another low pitch.  

Had a chuckle at how SF released Samardzija too to give themselves an extra roster spot for the final two days ala Buck demoting guys before the ASB.   Cobb can't possibly make it that far next year, can he?

 

[NCRaven]

On 9/27/2020 at 7:41 PM, Can_of_corn said:

Right, but one would hope that professionals at the highest level would be above that sort of behavior.

Joe West and Angel Hernandez asked me to say hello for them.