Yea, it sucks when a strike is called a strike
Interesting article today in the Post on robo umps.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/12/24/robo-umps-will-help-bring-baseball-into-st-century-more-ways-than-one/It says the ABS system (the league’s proprietary automated balls and strikes system) could be rolled out to MLB within three years.
Here's how calls will be different:
"Umpires have especial blind spots in some areas of the strike zone, the study found. They miss calls at the bottom left and bottom right portions of the strike zone, the most important parts of the zone, 14.3 and 18.3 percent of the time, respectively.
Simply put, ABS — and get used to saying that — won’t miss those calls. But it will reconfigure the modern conception of the strike zone. For one, its zone is larger than the one imagined by most players and fans. The K zone projected on television is one dimensional. It looks like a narrow window through which a pitcher must fit the ball. But the real strike zone is three dimensional. All a pitch must do is skim a piece of that zone to be called a strike. ABS doesn’t have blind spots.
That means the high fastball or looping curveball most umpires considered out of the zone may very well be strikes, according to ABS. Advantage, pitcher.
However, the fastball that tries to paint the inside corner of the plate, or the slider that tries to sweep outside and misses by half an inch won’t be strikes in an ABS zone no matter how well a catcher presents the offering. Advantage, hitter."
Here's how it would work in practice:
"When the ABS system is implemented, home-plate umpires wear an earpiece connected to an iPhone in their pocket. That connects via WiFi to TrackMan radar systems installed in the ballpark. The software announces “Ball” or “Strike” to the umpire, who announces the call to the players and crowd. It feels and looks like a normal baseball game."
This sounds like umpires would not have the option to overrule the ABS call! Umpires can't complain though: they're getting big pay raises and retirement benefit increases under their new agreement with MLB.
Here's another article that's more accessible:
https://apnews.com/d8760e52b8ced5b8436c60891ea6e877?utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow
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