Umpire Scorecard Thread

[Moose Milligan]

I'm for the robot umpires, but I saw an article earlier this week (I think it was on the Athletic) that said that it's not just as easy as everyone wants it to be..they can't just have robot umpires all of a sudden.  I'll try to find it and post the key points here as I didn't get to read all of it.

MM's big prediction:  something happens in this postseason with a blown call on a strike 3 looking or something in a key moment that has a significant impact on the outcome of a series and MLB is forced to wrestle with this issue because the outcry is too large to ignore.

Maybe it's just me but the umpiring over the past 2 years or so really has gone downhill...or maybe I'm just paying a little closer attention to it.  But it seems at least like once a series there's someone behind home plate that's completely awful.

 

[DirtyBird]

10 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Maybe it's just me but the umpiring over the past 2 years or so really has gone downhill...or maybe I'm just paying a little closer attention to it.  But it seems at least like once a series there's someone behind home plate that's completely awful.

 

I've been told that I am awful, the worst actually. I am currently in discussions to move to AI for posting on OH for next season.

Edited September 6, 2023 by DirtyBird

[Spy Fox]

9 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'm for the robot umpires, but I saw an article earlier this week (I think it was on the Athletic) that said that it's not just as easy as everyone wants it to be..they can't just have robot umpires all of a sudden.  I'll try to find it and post the key points here as I didn't get to read all of it.

MM's big prediction:  something happens in this postseason with a blown call on a strike 3 looking or something in a key moment that has a significant impact on the outcome of a series and MLB is forced to wrestle with this issue because the outcry is too large to ignore.

Maybe it's just me but the umpiring over the past 2 years or so really has gone downhill...or maybe I'm just paying a little closer attention to it.  But it seems at least like once a series there's someone behind home plate that's completely awful.

The last part is probably just you, since umpiring has been shown to be getting more accurate in recent years. I think I've seen a few studies on it, but here's the first one I could find again. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/we-may-never-find-out-how-good-umpires-can-be/

But I agree with you that the proliferation of broadcast K zones, the umpire score cards, etc has made bad umpiring more obvious and more front of mind for folks which puts MLB in a precarious spot. Robo umps probably aren't ready yet but a controversial postseason moment like you're describing could force some action. Similar to the NFL trying (and struggling) to improve PI calls in recent years since that famous Saints-Rams play. 

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

I've been told that I am awful, the worst actually. I am currently in discussions to move to AI for posting on OH for next season.

Can you set the AI to post in the style of Drungo?

Kthanx.

[Aristotelian]

15 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'm for the robot umpires, but I saw an article earlier this week (I think it was on the Athletic) that said that it's not just as easy as everyone wants it to be..they can't just have robot umpires all of a sudden.  I'll try to find it and post the key points here as I didn't get to read all of it.

 

 

I'll be curious to read the article. They are already using a challenge system with roboumps in the minors. My impression is very positive. Umpires keep their jobs, challenges eliminate the worst/highest leverage bad calls, everyone happy.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

 

Maybe it's just me but the umpiring over the past 2 years or so really has gone downhill...or maybe I'm just paying a little closer attention to it.  But it seems at least like once a series there's someone behind home plate that's completely awful.

 

I think the advent of sites like UmpScorecard have really heightened our awareness of just how often the umps get it wrong.   I’m not sure how long that site has existed, but I only became aware of it sometime in 2022 and I’ve seen many more links to it this year than last.   Are the umps actually getting worse?   I believe I saw a study last year or maybe two years ago showing that they’re getting better.   But they sure miss an awful lot.  On average, 12% of called strikes are actually balls.   That’s pretty bad.  

[dystopia]

42 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think the advent of sites like UmpScorecard have really heightened our awareness of just how often the umps get it wrong.   I’m not sure how long that site has existed, but I only became aware of it sometime in 2022 and I’ve seen many more links to it this year than last.   Are the umps actually getting worse?   I believe I saw a study last year or maybe two years ago showing that they’re getting better.   But they sure miss an awful lot.  On average, 12% of called strikes are actually balls.   That’s pretty bad.  

I'd love to see the Eric Gregg game analyzed. 

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, dystopia said:

I'd love to see the Eric Gregg game analyzed. 

Which game was that?

[Fan4Life]

On 8/28/2023 at 3:19 PM, Three Run Homer said:

Not surprising that the analysis concludes that Colorado benefitted from Bellino's calls.  There was one big call that went the O's way that isn't well-captured by this methodology, though--the ball called on the first pitch to Mullins in the 8th.  It was an obvious strike, and the bad call rattled the Colorado pitcher, who then walked Mullins on 4 pitches and threw a cookie to O'Hearn on the first pitch.  

It seems like Blach understood Bellino's strike zone and took advantage of it much better than the O's pitchers did yesterday.  

 

I'm wondering how long it will be before someone tells Palmer to tone it down. 

[dystopia]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Which game was that?

 

[FlaO'sFan]

26 minutes ago, dystopia said:

 

The last called strike is absolutely hilarious.

[ChipTait]

27 minutes ago, dystopia said:

 

Crime Dog was robbed!

[Fan4Life]

Does the Ump Scorecard site reflect the % of times managers win their challenges, expressing a missed call? 

[Fan4Life]

29 minutes ago, Fan4Life said:

Does the Ump Scorecard site reflect the % of times managers win their challenges, expressing a missed call? 

A quick Google search found several references and all of them expressed more than half of calls are overturned by replay. Here is an article from last year.

https://apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-baseball-new-york-mets-6a15037c46e08d216299871f7093a42d#:~:text=Including crew chief reviews there,was 1 minute%2C 31 seconds.

How does the umpires union support their existence with such an awful record?

Edited September 6, 2023 by Fan4Life

[Morgan423]

3 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

I'll be curious to read the article. They are already using a challenge system with roboumps in the minors. My impression is very positive. Umpires keep their jobs, challenges eliminate the worst/highest leverage bad calls, everyone happy.

I think that if the robo-ump's accuracy is better than human umpires, and relaying a ball/strike boop/buzz to the home plate ump only takes a third of a second per pitch (and thus wouldn't add more than a minute or two to an average game), that we may as well do that on every pitch in the game, instead of wasting time with challenges. 

Why introduce accuracy technology to the game, and then waste its potential by letting human umpires call most pitches anyway (and yes, human umps would still miss many close pitches, as only the most egregious misses will be challenged).

The umpire would still be able to make common sense over-rulings (like if a pitcher spikes one five feet out in front of the plate and it bounces up into the zone, for example).  And be able to manually call balls and strikes if there's a malfunction.  But otherwise, I'd want him out of the pitch calling equation.