OnlyBucs

537E73626574632320110 wrote: Already trailing in the top of the 1st.   I hope the HP ump tonight is better than Gerry Davis last night. Davis was brutal. Pitches substantially within the strike zone were sometimes called balls and some substantially out of the strike zone were called strikes. The borderline pitches were never called the same way twice. He seemed to have no clue and was just guessing.
Did a quick look at PitchFX for the game. The home place got 21 called pitches wrong. Ten of those were for Williams. That is really bad. I'm ready for automated strike zones.

726F4B4947220 wrote: Already trailing in the top of the 1st.   I hope the HP ump tonight is better than Gerry Davis last night. Davis was brutal. Pitches substantially within the strike zone were sometimes called balls and some substantially out of the strike zone were called strikes. The borderline pitches were never called the same way twice. He seemed to have no clue and was just guessing.
Did a quick look at PitchFX for the game.  The home place got 21 called pitches wrong.  Ten of those were for Williams.  That is really bad.  I'm ready for automated strike zones.
Me too. I've been ready for several years. And the problem goes deeper than the missed calls. It's the inconsistency. That is, you noted the 21 incorrect calls. But some of those pitches were in the same location as some of the correct calls. Batters had no idea what to swing at, not knowing when it was a ball and when it was a strike.



I think with pitchers routinely throwing in at least the mid 90s, pitches have become too difficult for a lot of these umps to call correctly. And some umps are just plain bad at any speed. And there would still be a HP ump. He'd have a piece in his ear to call the pitch and he would indicate ball or strike so the batter and everyone else would know. He would also call check swings, foul balls, whether a pitch hits a batter, and plays at the plate. So the HP ump would still have a job, still do everything he currently does, but would have help with the ball/strike calls.



An alternative idea if that idea is never adopted is to do it in spring training games. So that the umps realize how they should be calling pitches. Through repetition I would hope they would see how often they were going to call a pitch incorrectly and improve their accuracy when they don't get that help during the regular season.

After playing 2 games and hitting well, Polanco was given the game off despite the team's obvious hitting woes. If that was actually necessary after a mere 2 games, it says a lot about his condition and doesn't bode well. Or maybe it was just Hurdle's obsession with resting players. But it's hard to believe Polanco needed a day off to rest after 2 games.

1C313C2D2A3B2C6C6F5E0 wrote: Already trailing in the top of the 1st.   I hope the HP ump tonight is better than Gerry Davis last night. Davis was brutal. Pitches substantially within the strike zone were sometimes called balls and some substantially out of the strike zone were called strikes. The borderline pitches were never called the same way twice. He seemed to have no clue and was just guessing.
Did a quick look at PitchFX for the game.  The home place got 21 called pitches wrong.  Ten of those were for Williams.  That is really bad.  I'm ready for automated strike zones.
Me too. I've been ready for several years. And the problem goes deeper than the missed calls. It's the inconsistency. That is, you noted the 21 incorrect calls. But some of those pitches were in the same location as some of the correct calls. Batters had no idea what to swing at, not knowing when it was a ball and when it was a strike.



I think with pitchers routinely throwing in at least the mid 90s, pitches have become too difficult for a lot of these umps to call correctly. And some umps are just plain bad at any speed. And there would still be a HP ump. He'd have a piece in his ear to call the pitch and he would indicate ball or strike so the batter and everyone else would know. He would also call check swings, foul balls, whether a pitch hits a batter, and plays at the plate. So the HP ump would still have a job, still do everything he currently does, but would have help with the ball/strike calls.



An alternative idea if that idea is never adopted is to do it in spring training games. So that the umps realize how they should be calling pitches. Through repetition I would hope they would see how often they were going to call a pitch incorrectly and improve their accuracy when they don't get that help during the regular season. 




I like that alternative plan. My alternative plan would be to give that earpiece to the umps for regular season game and put the accurate call on a short delay. That way they make the call, and then instantly know whether they got it right or wrong.