Poll

Automating the strike zone

Yes, technology has shown umps are incompetent
29 (87.9%)
No, it would change the game too much
4 (12.1%)
I can't decide.
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 33

Voting closed: November 10, 2019, 11:12:54 PM

Author Topic: It's time to automate the strike zone  (Read 17474 times)

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Offline HalfSmokes

  • Posts: 21606
Re: Re: The Bryce Harper Compendium (2015)
« Reply #75: August 03, 2015, 09:09:33 AM »
You're leaving out height, which varies by hitter.  And the plate is not a line, but is a pentagon, so the zone in theory is composed of 5 discrete borders extending upwards from the bottom of the knees to "a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants.  The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball."

Despite what is shown on typical TV coverage, the strike zone is NOT a uniform rectangle that relates only to the front edge of the plate, and doesn't vary with batter height.  A pitch can totally miss the front edge but curve into the zone later, or drop down into the zone from above and still be a strike despite missing the rectangle.

ESPN actually showed a graphic with the 3 dimensional zone, though I doubt they adjusted for batter height.

I don't think I've ever seen a pitch that has caught the point of the pentagon without passing over the square. As far as height, I'm in favor of them standardizing it - make the zone for a 6 foot tall batter.