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


weams

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I think Chris Martin just dotted the corner on a 3-2 pitch two on two out as the Braves try to keep their 7-2 lead in the 7th inning.

Martin has walked 13 guys in 2.5 years, and one just now.

In a very 2020 thing, next guy hits a line drive over his head, but Albies is standing there to escape the jam.

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2 hours ago, luismatos4prez said:

It's kind of crazy how baseball adjusts the strike zone to the player's height, isn't it? I can't think of another sport where the official rules vary based on the player's height.

I thought about this for a few minutes and can't really come up with any direct examples.  There are sports like horse racing and maybe some types of car racing where you have to even out weight, by adding weights to make up for the driver/jockey being light.

I think high jump and pole vault should be judged on height jumped as measured from the top of the competitor's heads.  Nothing to do with me being 5' 7".

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29 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Wasn't Eddie Gaedel banned after one game too?

The AL President voided his contract apparently using the "best interests of baseball" excuse, and then made a new rule that all contracts had to be run through the league office prior to the player appearing in a game.  IIRC.

Today there'd probably be a disability discrimination lawsuit and he'd be reinstated.  I've long advocated using a very short but athletic person as a DH who walks constantly.

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45 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I thought about this for a few minutes and can't really come up with any direct examples.  There are sports like horse racing and maybe some types of car racing where you have to even out weight, by adding weights to make up for the driver/jockey being light.

I think high jump and pole vault should be judged on height jumped as measured from the top of the competitor's heads.  Nothing to do with me being 5' 7".

How different would the game be if the strike zone was a constant? Maybe the current strike zone of the average height player (6'1). Would Jose "Buzzer" Altuve (5'6) be able to compete? Would Aaron Judge (6'7) have a huge advantage?

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17 minutes ago, luismatos4prez said:

How different would the game be if the strike zone was a constant? Maybe the current strike zone of the average height player (6'1). Would Jose "Buzzer" Altuve (5'6) be able to compete? Would Aaron Judge (6'7) have a huge advantage?

One of the things I like about baseball (and soccer, too) is that you don't have to be some kind of genetic freak to play.  Brian Roberts and Jose Altuve can be really good players at 5' 6" or 5' 8".  In football you simply can't be a lineman without being nearly 300 pounds.  There's a huge prejudice, probably justified, against any QB who isn't 6' or 6' 3".  Even kickers are now mostly 6', 220. In basketball you basically have to be the best player who ever lived to be in the modern NBA if you're not 6' 3" or something.  Recently DC United had a player named Luciano Acosta who is 5' 3" and he's awesome.

Yes, I think if they had a standard strike zone it would likely hurt shorter players, and incentivize teams to acquire taller and taller players.  Which would probably exacerbate the all power all the time problem the game has.  It might also mean that the gap in offense from middle infielders and perhaps catchers to the other positions would widen.

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