What is a strike?<\/p>\n
The answer to that question has traditionally been easy for MLB umpires: A strike is whatever I say it is.<\/p>\n
However, amid the introduction of the automated ball-strike challenge system, highly experienced former MLB umps are critical of baseball\u2019s newest technology.<\/p>\n
Citing their own observations and conversations with those currently still in the job, the consistent criticism has been simple: What\u2019s a ball and what\u2019s a strike has changed, and they don\u2019t know how, exactly, to call it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strike zone has never been an exact science,\u201d said longtime former umpire Gary Darling. \u201cThey\u2019re flipping pitches that are missing by a tenth of an inch, in a system that\u2019s not exact anyway. \u2026 As much as baseball wants to define the strike zone, it\u2019s still not defined.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys that I\u2019ve talked to that are still working, they\u2019d rather just let the computer call (everything). Then you don\u2019t have to worry about anything,\u201d Darling added, noting that the opinion was not universal.<\/p>\n
The Athletic spoke with five recently retired umpires with a combined 161 years of experience at the big league level.<\/p>\n
Joe West, who has umpired more games than anyone in MLB history, said, \u201cMy problem is that they haven\u2019t proven it\u2019s as accurate as they say it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim Joyce, who has umpired three World Series and three All-Star games said he\u2019s talked to other active umpires, and, \u201cThey feel the strike zone has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Major League Baseball disagreed with the notion that strikes and balls were harder to call, noting that years of testing and refining went into the process before it was implemented. More importantly, MLB said that early data actually reflects an increase in umpire accuracy.<\/p>\n
Umps have been accurate 93.5 percent of the time, which is up 0.9 percent from last year, which an MLB spokesperson said was also a record year for accuracy.<\/p>\n
The Athletic also requested an interview with a current big league umpire but was denied. Current umpires are generally restricted from doing interviews without the league\u2019s permission.<\/p>\n
However, former umps are under no such restriction, and many of them have kept in touch with those currently working the plate. Conversations abound regarding the new system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know because I\u2019ve talked to some of them,\u201d said longtime umpire Dale Scott. \u201cThey\u2019re adjusting to what the machine is going to call a strike. \u2026 As an umpire, what you\u2019re trying to do is not get overturned.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it\u2019s close to what the normal strike zone is. But the problem is when you\u2019re talking about 1\/10th of an inch, being close doesn\u2019t really help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ABS system measures balls and strikes from a two-dimensional plane set in the middle of home plate. Before, it was a three-dimensional assessment, made from when the ball crosses at the start of home plate.<\/p>\n
In the past, umpires measured balls and strikes from the shoulders to the knees. Now, the top of the zone is 53.5 percent of a player\u2019s total height, and the bottom of the zone is 27 percent of the player\u2019s total height.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can figure out where 53.5 percent of my height is on my chest, good luck,\u201d said ex-MLB ump Brian Gorman. \u201c\u2026 I don\u2019t know what your height is, and I don\u2019t know how to do the math.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an impossible calculation to get exact by the naked eye. The one-inch buffer given to umpires in their evaluations now seemingly requires perfection by a different standard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess I\u2019m old school,\u201d West said. \u201cBecause I believe that umpires have their specific little strike zones that may be an inch off here or an inch off there. But I think the biggest thing is the consistency of the guy behind the plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo my knowledge, the system hasn\u2019t been proven perfect,\u201d West said. In fact, it is clear that at the extremes, the system is not perfect.<\/p>\n
There have already been numerous instances of umpires having high profile, viral incidents with the ABS system. On Sunday, umpire CB Bucknor \u2014 notably not a stranger to criticisms over his home plate calls \u2014 experienced something of a humiliation ritual.<\/p>\n
He was overturned on back-to-back strike three calls on Eugenio Su\u00e1rez. Both times, he rang up the Reds slugger; emphatically going into his punch out motion, only to have it negated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside,\u201d bellowed Reds television broadcaster John Sadak as the ball call was shown on the video board, his voice remaining loud amid the crowd\u2019s audible roar. \u201cThe loudest cheers of the game \u2014 the Reds have hit two homers \u2014 come on back-to-back challenges!\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting yelled at and criticized has always been a part of umpiring. But in the past, it was done to argue calls. Now fans are loudly celebrating the umpire\u2019s very public failure.<\/p>\n
\u201cSocial media doesn\u2019t do it justice either,\u201d Gorman said. \u201cBecause people just sit on their computer and they spew their opinions and they think everything\u2019s right. That same person will go out to the parking lot and can\u2019t find their car for half an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The umpires acknowledge one important thing, however, and it\u2019s that the goal is always to get the call right. And ultimately, while the challenge system might add more temporary humiliation, it will also limit the risk that one of their calls costs someone a game.<\/p>\n
West, who is critical of the implementation in its current form, believes that umpires will make the adjustment. The more games behind the plate, the better feel they\u2019ll have for what\u2019s a strike and what is not. ABS is not universally detested by those wearing blue.<\/p>\n
Joyce called the challenge system \u201cthe best scenario right now.\u201d He says \u201cbest\u201d not because he loves it or even wants it. It\u2019s because the general aim of ABS is to get more calls correct, and because MLB is only using it to challenge calls, not call games universally.<\/p>\n
Joyce is \u201call for\u201d instant replay, as you might imagine. He said it, said it again, then said he wishes there was expanded replay. When your 30-year career is associated with costing a pitcher a perfect game with two outs in the ninth \u2014 when Joyce judged that pitcher Armando Galarraga didn\u2019t reach first base in time to preserve a perfect game \u2014 replay is your best and most trusted friend.<\/p>\n
But replay, in Joyce\u2019s mind, is not the challenge system. \u201cYour bread and butter for MLB umpires is plate work,\u201d he said. He\u2019ll need more time to see if ABS is something he can get behind.<\/p>\n
Whether or not it is, however, won\u2019t really matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe technology is here now,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve been saying all along, be careful what you wish for. And now we have it. Because now that it\u2019s there, it\u2019s not going away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What is a strike? The answer to that question has traditionally been easy for MLB umpires: A strike…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":697738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1266,62,222,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-697737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-sports-business","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116330630504782834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}