As several said yesterday, atrocious calls by the HPU completely altered ABs at crucial times in the game. It is not merely a single bad call; that call alters the mindset of the hitter and makes chasing a bad pitch more likely. I am not talking about borderline pitches; I am talking about strike calls on pitches several inches off the plate. The same thing happens to pitchers when a clear strike is called a ball, especially when it should have been strike three.
I do not like the idea of electronic umpires, but what other solution is there?
The electronic zone is inevitable and not that far away. 10 years, max.
There are clearly kinks to be worked out based on the live-game tests in the Atlantic League and elsewhere. YouTube is full of crazy calls. The problem may not be accuracy as much as pitchers throwing “technical” strikes that clip a corner of the rulebook zone but have (rightly) never been considered a strike in MLB. But those issues can and will be fixed.
I find this twitter feed (@umpscorecards) to be helpful. It is usually about a day behind but you can see the accuracy of the ump on the strike zone and then how accurate they were in their established strike zone. They also tell you which team benefitted and what the most significant misses were.
I tend to be biased in my viewing and forget the ones that benefit my team. This is an objective check.
Here is the score card for the Saturday Astros @ Angels game
ETA: Mark was an umpire for a couple of years and was a good one. His strike zone was tight, as one would expect of a hitter turned umpire, but consistent.
Hey, just BTW, if you want to post a tweet, you don’t have to copy and paste the text of the tweet. Just paste the URL of the tweet on a line by itself, like this:
It’s hard to predict the effect of a truly universal and consistent strike zone would have on the game. Pitchers, particularly relievers, would know right where the zone is from the first pitch. Devices would be installed in bullpens so they would know exactly how each pitch is landing before entering the game. Hitters would not need to guess the edges of the zone in their first AB nor worry that it might be different in their second.
The strike zone is supposed to be universal and consistent, but obviously never has been. If it really were, I think the game would change, and I think for the better, but I’m not certain.
