Calling Balls and Strikes: ABS Challenge System

[Jaysland Red]

Does the Umpire's Union matter at all?

I mean, a computer could literally do their job.

Time to bring down the hammer on those guys, IMO.

A computer can do the player’s (and the fan’s) job as well - see “MLB The Show”.

[Jaysland Red]

Not only that, but they keep saying that they want to "speed up the game", but we know that each challenge is going to take endless reviewing of footage, calls to the control center, and conversation between managers and umps. It's getting ridiculous. Get some umps in there that don't have skin in the game, get rid of the excessive body armor, and please never use a shift again. (sorry, off my old-timer's soapbox)

Reading the article about the AFL experience, it sounds like the result of the challenge will be quick - like how you see the pitch displayed on TV. However, I consider is only the human being that makes a sport interesting and much of that is due to their flaws. It results in events and calls that we remember, argue about and tell our kids about, long after the box score is forgotten. This past week there was a soccer game where, after a goal was scored, the Video Assistant Referee was invoked to see if the goal should first have been disallowed because of offside, then another check for handball by the attacker and, finally, another check to see if a foul had been made on the goalkeeper. This all took 10 minutes before the goal was allowed to stand. This kind thing takes the pleasure out of sports.

[CmdrCody]

I watched a number of games on MiLB (since the Reds weren’t worth watching). With the pitch clock and the strike challenge it was still WAY FASTER than MLB. I think players will actually learn what pitches are strikes from this. I saw calls go both ways, but “FRAMED” strikes were the most overturned in my view.
I’ve always disliked the 5 inch outside the zone framed pitch that’s called a strike. Hopefully the real time feedback to the ump works on correcting them.

[Z-Fly]

A computer can do the player’s (and the fan’s) job as well - see “MLB The Show”.

How do you know that you aren't already part of simulation yourself?

[Big Klu]

How do you know that you aren't already part of simulation yourself?

[Jaysland Red]

How do you know that you aren't already part of simulation yourself?

Because I wrote the code….

[Chip R]

It has been repeated home plate umpire Pat Hoberg called a perfect game last night. No missed calls, no calls favoring either team. Congratulations to him.

[Big Klu]

It has been repeated home plate umpire Pat Hoberg called a perfect game last night. No missed calls, no calls favoring either team. Congratulations to him.

The other three umpires ripped his uniform off and dumped a bucket of Gatorade on him after the game.

[Bourgeois Zee]

A computer can do the player’s (and the fan’s) job as well - see “MLB The Show”.

That's a big fat nope.

Not close, actually.

But thanks for attempting a massive logical fallacy, man.

[cincinnati chili]

I'm all for experimentation in the minor leagues, but I'm very very skeptical of this idea. Get the call right every time. The technology is there.

[REDREAD]

Does the Umpire's Union matter at all?

I mean, a computer could literally do their job.

Time to bring down the hammer on those guys, IMO.

If you gave the home plate ump a headset and the computer told the homeplate ump to call a ball or strike, and the ump still got paid the same..
Would umps complain about that scenario?
I mean, I am sure they'd dislike losing power. Some umps are petty and like to make bad calls out of spike to "put a player in his place".. but if I Was an ump,
I guess I wouldn't care if technology made my job easier.
In this scenario. the home plate ump could stand farther away from the pitcher and have much less of a risk of getting injured by a foul tip, etc.
A home plate ump is still needed to make the call on an out at home anyhow.. so no jobs would be lost.

[Chip R]

If you gave the home plate ump a headset and the computer told the homeplate ump to call a ball or strike, and the ump still got paid the same..
Would umps complain about that scenario?
I mean, I am sure they'd dislike losing power. Some umps are petty and like to make bad calls out of spike to "put a player in his place".. but if I Was an ump,
I guess I wouldn't care if technology made my job easier.
In this scenario. the home plate ump could stand farther away from the pitcher and have much less of a risk of getting injured by a foul tip, etc.
A home plate ump is still needed to make the call on an out at home anyhow.. so no jobs would be lost.

They probably would.

I've been saying the same thing. They could stand 5-10 feet back from home plate and not have to wear the extra equipment. It'd certainly feel better in the summer.

[texasdave]

They probably would.

I've been saying the same thing. They could stand 5-10 feet back from home plate and not have to wear the extra equipment. It'd certainly feel better in the summer.

I think the umpire would still have to remain where he is. Could he call foul tips from 10-15 feet back? Could he tell if the ball just barely hit a batter? Or if the ball hit the batter or the bat? Check swings?

This got me to thinking: When a catcher appeals a checked swing, either the first or third base ump indicates whether the batter did indeed swing or not. So, that means the ump already knows if the batter swung. Why should a catcher have to ask? I suppose getting the call right isn't all that sacrosanct after all if the ump knows the batter swung and did not call it. There are other instances in the game. Appeals as to whether a player missed a base or not. Whether he left too soon on a sac fly. If the ump knows the correct call, then why does the other team have to appeal?

[Roy Tucker]

It has been repeated home plate umpire Pat Hoberg called a perfect game last night. No missed calls, no calls favoring either team. Congratulations to him.

I wonder how often this occurs?

This is the first time I’ve ever heard of it happening.

[Ron Madden]

I wonder how often this occurs?

This is the first time I’ve ever heard of it happening.

Umpire Scorecards, which uses MLB's own advanced pitch tracking data to rate the accuracy of every ball and strike call in a game to determine how those calls affect the outcome of a game, launched on Twitter in July 2020, just before the start of the pandemic-altered 2020 MLB season.

In the hundreds of games the platform has tracked since then, none have been perfectly called – until Hoberg's performance in the Astros' series-evening 5-2, Game 2 victory.

story here:
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/ml...ros-game-2-win