Star: The case for automating ball-strike calls

[dagger]

Most Jays fans, except perhaps some hidebound traditionalists in the media, can support this. The case for automating ball-strike counts has a growing number of adherents. The technology is there already (as we know).

https://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/2016/07/11/when-will-mlb-adopt-an-automated-strike-zone.html

[Fairview4Life]

The final inning of the Blue Jays’ 2015 season was not pretty, and the team’s fans would likely be happy to wipe it from their memory.

So let's proceed to recap it! Excuse me, I have a roof to jump off.

[Fairview4Life]

You could even put each pitch location up on the jumbotron or whatever, completely shutting down any pitcher or hitter complaints, like with Hawkeye in tennis. This is such a no brainer. The only possible issues I have ever heard of is having to calibrate it every game or for individual players because some are taller than others or have different stances or whatever. It is incredibly dumb this hasn't happened yet.

[Fairview4Life]

“But after seeing it in action I’ve come around,” he said. “There’s one thing that determines the course of the game more than anything else and that’s the count. A batter has a completely different rate of success in a 1-2 count than a 2-1 count. So the count dictates everything.”

The average hitter’s on-base-plus-slugging percentage drops almost 300 points from a 2-1 count compared to a 1-2 count. We also know that umpires make mistakes on balls and strikes roughly 15 per cent of the time, according to various studies. That means they make the wrong call on about 20 pitches per game.

“The strike zone is so critical to the game of baseball,” Longo said. “I don’t see a valid argument to not get it right every time.”

While critics of an automated strike zone say it would remove the “human element” from the game, Byrnes says the human element “has and always will be the players, not the umpires.”

Given that we have the technology to do it, an automated zone should be a no-brainer, he said.

“Baseball players use to take trains across the country and they didn’t play night games. Guess what, we have lights now and we have airplanes, so we use them. Why would we not use this?”

Do it.

Do it.

[King of Canada]

I'm all for it. It's a strike or not a strike. If we're going to have reviews, we might as well do this.

[changes]

There's no excuse not to have it. It's not a sport where you need any sort of interpretation or ability to give an advantage. No need to have these clowns getting caught up in moments and making horrible calls, or getting vindictive and making horrible calls, on and on.

[StopitLeo]

I'm all for it. But how does it adjust to individual players? It's almost like they need those markers they use to track movement for video games.

[The_Hater]

Without reading the article, the issue I always saw was that the size of the strike zone is supposed to vary from player to player( depending on their height. The zone we see on TV doesn't reflect this. Not sure how they would do with with an automated zone or if they would just use the same strike zone for everyone.

[Fairview4Life]

I'm all for it. But how does it adjust to individual players? It's almost like they need those markers they use to track movement for video games.

That's not a bad idea. Maybe some kind of rfid or whatever in the knees and letter of a uniform. Or they just calibrate each player at the start of the year, since the rfid plan would seem like it would get screwed up by a player crouching or jumping or something as the pitch came in.

[Geddy]

If people miss the ump's gestures and shouting, they could probably program a robot to do all that too.

[Raps_Swingman]

They can't even get Instant Replay right and we want them to implement a game changing technology? Keep dreaming.

I don't have an opinion on it one way or the other, but MLB will not move swiftly to do this...

[JN]

It's an easy way to speed up the game a bit too. No brainer.

[JN]

They can't even get Instant Replay right and we want them to implement a game changing technology? Keep dreaming.

I don't have an opinion on it one way or the other, but MLB will not move swiftly to do this...

Instant Replay is difficult because the plays are not always the same, and some times the calls are very close. And part of the problem with instant replay is often the rules themselves (not the instant replay)

This is yes/no technology, same play every time (a pitch toward the plate). It is much easier to implement than instant replay, and can be done instantly.

[JN]

I'm all for it. But how does it adjust to individual players? It's almost like they need those markers they use to track movement for video games.

Measure the players at the beginning of the season or each series and input the parameters.

[Schad]

If people miss the ump's gestures and shouting, they could probably program a robot to do all that too.

As much as I'd like to see a flailing robot ump, they could even just have an actual ump with some kind of wristwatch thing similar to what refs use for goalline calls in soccer. If it buzzes it's a strike, and they can happily flail away.

[Fairview4Life]

If people miss the ump's gestures and shouting, they could probably program a robot to do all that too.

As much as I'd like to see a flailing robot ump, they could even just have an actual ump with some kind of wristwatch thing similar to what refs use for goalline calls in soccer. If it buzzes it's a strike, and they can happily flail away.

Read the article! That is exactly what that minor league team did.

[Schad]

Work is for posting on RealGM, not reading articles to lessen my ignorance before posting on RealGM. What do you take me for.

[zilby]

If people miss the ump's gestures and shouting, they could probably program a robot to do all that too.

As much as I'd like to see a flailing robot ump, they could even just have an actual ump with some kind of wristwatch thing similar to what refs use for goalline calls in soccer. If it buzzes it's a strike, and they can happily flail away.

That seems the most logical, and as Fairview mentioned, already has been implemented. You can't just eliminate the home plate umpire since you have safe/out calls at the plate, but you can leave ball and strike calls to technology.
My only question is, knowing how stupid and ill-tempered the majority of baseball umps, who's to say we can prevent them from going rogue or overruling the technology to make judgment calls? Cause they're probably the only one who knows aside from the operator, right? Then you're back to umpires calling balls and strikes and it's square one.

[distracted]

If people miss the ump's gestures and shouting, they could probably program a robot to do all that too.

As much as I'd like to see a flailing robot ump, they could even just have an actual ump with some kind of wristwatch thing similar to what refs use for goalline calls in soccer. If it buzzes it's a strike, and they can happily flail away.

That seems the most logical, and as Fairview mentioned, already has been implemented. You can't just eliminate the home plate umpire since you have safe/out calls at the plate, but you can leave ball and strike calls to technology.
My only question is, knowing how stupid and ill-tempered the majority of baseball umps, who's to say we can prevent them from going rogue or overruling the technology to make judgment calls? Cause they're probably the only one who knows aside from the operator, right? Then you're back to umpires calling balls and strikes and it's square one.

It would actually be good if the home plate ump could pay more attention to whether a batter swung or not. No appeals over. Red/Green mini LEDs inside the helmet flash for ball or strike.

And I wouldn't worry about rogue umps. There's no way MLB would allow that, and it would be so easy to catch.

[RalphWiggum]

If people miss the ump's gestures and shouting, they could probably program a robot to do all that too.

There's still an ump back there to call the balls and strikes, he just has an earpiece. You'd still need a HP ump for timeouts and plays at the plate.