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MLB umpires agree to electronic strike zone testing and development for 'robot umps' in new union deal


Wild74

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MLB umpires agree to electronic strike zone testing and development for 'robot umps' in new union deal
See BS ^

 

The electronic strike zone, also commonly refereed to as "robot umpires," could make its way to Major League Baseball at some point during the next five seasons. The Major League Baseball Umpires Association agreed to cooperate with Major League Baseball in the development and testing of the electronic strike zone, Associated Press' Ben Walker and Ronald Blum report.

**SNIP**

Last month, Manfred said the automated strike zone will be used in some minor league ballparks during the 2020 season as MiLB works to improve the technology. Here's the short version of how the technology works: The home plate umpire will wear an ear piece during the game, and they will hear a "ball" or "strike" call on each pitch. The pitch is identified using a Doppler radar system, called TrackMan. The umpire will hear and relay the call. For an in-depth look at the technology, including thoughts from players and personnel, you can read more about the initial experiment with the Atlantic League here.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbssports.com ...

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16 hours ago, THSfanatic said:

As much as I hate to admit it this needs to be adopted.  4-5 years ago I said never never never.  But the floating strike zone has gotten so out of control and varies so much from ump to ump something has to change. It is sad but true.  It is time.

 

It will be interesting how they perfect the strike zone, how much of the ball has to touch the zone and how much can be outside the zone while touching it. 

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3 hours ago, Wild74 said:

Yes, he received a lot of calls way outside the strike zone

Never mind most of those called strike threes were 6+ inches off the plate ... the announcers would say, "he really set up that pitch" ... like I said, if you had two strikes on you and the next pitch wasn't over your head or in the dirt, you better be swinging .... it's like the umps LOVED making called strike threes when he was pitching ....

Edited by KirtFalcon
yo mama
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2 hours ago, Stoney said:

Does this mean the end of Joe West and Angel Hernandez? Cause I can really get behind that.

The Home Plate Ump is about the last place where UMPs have dictatorial power, be glad for them to lose it. Managers will not be able to argue balls and strikes and get thrown out....well I guess they can argue the computer is wrong...lol

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/27/2019 at 1:07 PM, Wild74 said:

It will be interesting how they perfect the strike zone, how much of the ball has to touch the zone and how much can be outside the zone while touching it. 

That is the key Wild. I had something in mind like a tone of sorts. The closer the louder etc. Having said that, I did a little count checking last year. The Rangers was the only team I did it on. From what I could glean, the bottom line was the great majority of the time if a hitter was supposed to be out he wound up out. On the flip side if he was supposed to be on base, eventually he ended up on base. The biggest damage I saw was A bad call on strike three. That was very rare. The major unknown here that might enter into the mix, is pitch selection. We know MLB is big on certain pitches on certain counts. That might have more of an impact than we know. Now I ain't no mathematician by any means, but I sure would like to see Pax take a stab at the numbers.

Taking the human element out of the deal worries me. My guess is whatever improvements are reached will not be a worthwhile endeavor for the image of the game. But I'm an old ####, and kinda like it the way it is, because I don't believe it has anything close to a major impact on the outcome of games.  Better training of umpires, and stricter accountability seems the best course to me. Consequences for your actions always seems to be the right medicine for the illness. JMO

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1 hour ago, WestHardinfan1 said:

I read in an earlier article that in the Arizona league they were trying them out and a player got called out on strikes by the robot umpire on one that bounced in.....lol.....he then got ejected by the HUMAN umpire for arguing......:rofl:

And there you go the human umpire is still stupid....

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