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


weams

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Over on the billjamesonline.com forums there's a similar thread, but I seem to have lost that one.  If I can't produce statistically significant truth data with error bars for the pitch tracking systems several other posters told me that they're going to stay with the assumption that Country Joe West is more accurate than the robots.  The statement was made that charts like the ones Corn has been posting are essentially made up numbers, since we don't have exact source data and methodology on how the plots were generated. 

Oh, also, that since the strike zone is defined in relation to individual batters who move around the robots can't judge that and the humans that currently help define the upper and lower limits of the strike zone are probably introducing more error than just using a human ump.

I guess that's really the final word on this.  Eyeballin' it is way better than calibrated optical/laser/radar/lidar systems.

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  • 5 months later...
8 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

How about just replacing the HP ump altogether?

Anyone else see what went down in the Mets-Marlins game?

This folks, is a game winning HBP that should have been strike 3.

Yes he obviously leaned into the pitch, yes the ump gave the Mets the victory. 

zOk2rYL.png

And don’t allow the players to wear body armor that makes them feel comfortable enough to lean in and get HBP. 

If Conforto thought there was a decent chance he fractures his arm, he doesn’t lean into that pitch. 
 

 

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I did not see the Mets game, but I have been advocating  for electronic calling of Balls/Strikes for years.  It  would take one more item of a baseball game from the realm of   They Get Most of them Right, to Now all calls are Correct, well virtually all.  I suppose the machine could malfunction.    Not having the Home Plate Ump  would open the can of worms for the Union to get involved.  

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57 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

How about just replacing the HP ump altogether?

Anyone else see what went down in the Mets-Marlins game?

This folks, is a game winning HBP that should have been strike 3.

Yes he obviously leaned into the pitch, yes the ump gave the Mets the victory. 

zOk2rYL.png

It’s actually worse than it looks. Home plate ump Ron Kulpa called the pitch strike three, and then signaled HBP and sent Comforto to first base. This has nothing to do with umpire judgment— by rule, if the pitch is a strike then it can’t also be a HBP. After the game Kulpa admitted to a pool reporter that he misapplied the HBP rule, and that Comforto should have been out on strikes. If the Marlins protest the game by all rights it should be upheld and the game resumed with two outs in the 9th. 

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1 hour ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

And don’t allow the players to wear body armor that makes them feel comfortable enough to lean in and get HBP. 

If Conforto thought there was a decent chance he fractures his arm, he doesn’t lean into that pitch. 

The problem is with the "armor" in the strike zone. The helmet was a good safety improvement -- and it's out of the strike zone. Same goes for shin pads: they are outside of the strike zone and a very, very good equipment improvement.

But I would be fine with outlawing elbow pads.

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19 minutes ago, ShoelesJoe said:

It’s actually worse than it looks. Home plate ump Ron Kulpa called the pitch strike three, and then signaled HBP and sent Comforto to first base. This has nothing to do with umpire judgment— by rule, if the pitch is a strike then it can’t also be a HBP. After the game Kulpa admitted to a pool reporter that he misapplied the HBP rule, and that Comforto should have been out on strikes. If the Marlins protest the game by all rights it should be upheld and the game resumed with two outs in the 9th. 

Seems the HP ump would have overruled the Cyclops (or whatever cute nickname MLB will refer to its robotic strikezone camera) anyhow, so the problem of a human ump misapplying a basic rule would not be prevented nor overturned by a robo-ump.

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10 minutes ago, Beef Supreme said:

The problem is with the "armor" in the strike zone. The helmet was a good safety improvement -- and it's out of the strike zone. Same goes for shin pads: they are outside of the strike zone and a very, very good equipment improvement.

But I would be fine with outlawing elbow pads.

I'd rather just allow the body armor, but it's contingent on the umpires calling a strike (or even the batter out) when a hitter leans into the strike zone to take one for the team. Conforto had no fear of letting a 90+ MPH ball hit him.

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4 hours ago, Oriole1940 said:

I did not see the Mets game, but I have been advocating  for electronic calling of Balls/Strikes for years.  It  would take one more item of a baseball game from the realm of   They Get Most of them Right, to Now all calls are Correct, well virtually all.  I suppose the machine could malfunction.    Not having the Home Plate Ump  would open the can of worms for the Union to get involved.  

So you disagree with Drungo's post above about why the robocalls are problematic?

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  • 1 month later...

Has anyone else noticed that the 'strike-zone box' is the same size for all batters? It's not possible that Judge and Stanton have the same size strike-zone as that midget outfielder that Yankees have.

Also, while I realize that umpires make up their strike-zones, the 'strike-zones boxes' go below most batters' knees and barely above their waists.

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