Blackmailed

[Dalton26 16,892]

Look how at how many games there an entire team only has 0 or 1 error. Chase Headley committed 23 errors, that's awful, roughly one every 7 games. Do you think the home plate ump only blows a ball/strike call once every 7 games? It's a lot more often than that.

Umpires don't have an easy job, and I don't expect them to be perfect but I do expect them to be better than what they are.

We are going to have to just agree to disagree.

[Brass Cannon 24,220]

http://epicrelievers.com/2014/07/statistically-ranking-the-best-and-worst-home-plate-umpires-in-mlb/

 

Turns out I misrembered some of the data, most umps are around missing 15%.  Thats still almost 40 blown pitches a game though with none of them at less than 10%

[HoosierAloha 30,024]

Players swing at bad pitches all the time it's not an error but a mistake. Umps make mistakes too. Anytime you have humans making split second decisions you'll have mistakes. Bad calls are a part of the game and add to the entertainment factor. I guess it would be fun to watch players and managers arguing with a computer though.

[Dalton26 16,892]

You'd need a lot more data than that to know what their percentage really is. Who/what decides what was a blown call? Why does it only account for pitches and not all the other calls umpires make? How can every pitch be used in the study when an umpire doesn't make a call on every pitch?

[Brass Cannon 24,220]

You'd need a lot more data than that to know what their percentage really is. Who/what decides what was a blown call? Why does it only account for pitches and not all the other calls umpires make? How can every pitch be used in the study when an umpire doesn't make a call on every pitch?

 

Over the aggregate of the season there are more than enough pitches that the players don't swing at to determine a percentage with very little margin of error.  Honestly in any given week theres going to be enough data to make this determination. 

[Dalton26 16,892]

Over the aggregate of the season there are more than enough pitches that the players don't swing at to determine a percentage with very little margin of error. Honestly in any given week theres going to be enough data to make this determination.

You really didn't answer my questions. They all came from reading the article you posted.

I also found an article that said umpires are right 94.6% of the time but fact of the matter is there are far too many variables to truly know.

[Brass Cannon 24,220]

You really didn't answer my questions. They all came from reading the article you posted.

I also found an article that said umpires are right 94.6% of the time but fact of the matter is there are far too many variables to truly know.

 

You said more data was required and thats not even remotely true.  Most of those umps had over 3000 pieces of data to derive those percentages from. 

 

And it only accounts for pitches called ball/strikes because thats all we are talking about.  The ump should still be behind the plate. But they should be there to call a player out or make some other judgement calls. 

 

And whether or not its a blown call is determined by the cameras they have set up that look at whether the ball is over the plate, and if it is over the plate is within the strike zone. 

[Dalton26 16,892]

It's 100% true. Umps don't just call balls and strikes so you'd need more data.

That's not all we are talking about. I'm talking about umpires and their job includes more than balls and strikes. I've never once talked about balls and strikes only.

You'd need a camera from every angle to 100% accurately call strikes/balls.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Players swing at bad pitches all the time it's not an error but a mistake. Umps make mistakes too. Anytime you have humans making split second decisions you'll have mistakes. Bad calls are a part of the game and add to the entertainment factor. I guess it would be fun to watch players and managers arguing with a computer though.

 

I don't know. I don't really watch baseball, so maybe it makes it better there, but I can tell you that bad calls do not make football or basketball more entertaining. I don't know why it would be better to see a third party mess with the game in baseball. 

 

You're a glass half empty kind of guy aren't you! ;)

It's really pretty incredible how much baseball is played just by the MLB. I mean think about it. 162 games at an average of 3 hours a game times 15, about 7300 hours of regular season baseball. If those games were played back-to-back it would take over 304 days. Major League Baseball could be played non-stop for 10 straight months.

 

Amazing. No wonder it's considered America's sport. I mean heck, add in the minors and it's like 3.5 times as much. In North America alone.

[Geometry Hoosier 1,151]

I've played a ton of baseball between my high school, college, and independent career. I'm also an assistant coach at our high school. I've seen good umps and I've seen bad umps. I even had an ump confuse me for someone else in a bench clearing brawl and throw me out of a game. The way I always look at an umps strike zone is like this. If you're going to give their pitches a wide zone you better be giving ours the same. If you're a batter you better adjust. That's what separates great hitters from good hitters.

[BtownBanner6 1,298]

I Umpire and while I know it's little league and I don't get paid 6 figures a year, you can't just have a machine call the same all in one zone, and in the defense of the Umpires you guys can sit back and look at the K zone on TV and argue but as long as He's consistent all the time then He's doing a damn good job regardless of how you like his zone or not. If the K zone was always right then you'd start seeing games in double figures cause that zone takes the pitchers utility of the umpire out of the equation and a lot of the edges of the zone out.

[Brass Cannon 24,220]

It's 100% true. Umps don't just call balls and strikes so you'd need more data.

That's not all we are talking about. I'm talking about umpires and their job includes more than balls and strikes. I've never once talked about balls and strikes only.

You'd need a camera from every angle to 100% accurately call strikes/balls.

 

But thats all we are talking about replacing.  So thats all that matters here nobody is saying to get rid of the umps totally. 

 

Ok so you are talking about something that has no bearing on the fact they suck at the most basic element of their job. 

 

Not really you need 2.  One from above.  This identifies if its over the plate.  If its not, easy enough to call it a ball.  If it is over the plate you look at he timestamp then compare it to the second camera from pitchers point of view and see if the ball was within the vertical constraints of the zone.  We literally can already do this. 

 

In fact they literally already do this hence how we have the data that says the umps are wrong 15 percent of the time. 

[biteoftheapple 4,115]

Imo, perfection in an umpire is desired, but consistency is needed.

[Brass Cannon 24,220]

Imo, perfection in an umpire is desired, but consistency is needed.

 

And I think this is the problem.  Umps get 40 or so calls wrong a game.  Of those they might actually get to make a decision because of a lack of swing on what 20 of those.  Odds are pretty good one team is going to get the short end of the stick on that small a sample size.  Not to mention timing of the mistakes can have a big impact.  Bases loaded tie game, one missed call can totally change the complexion of that game.  Where as the same mistake with the pitcher at bat with 2 out nobody on is a lot less likely to change the game. 

[Dalton26 16,892]

But thats all we are talking about replacing. So thats all that matters here nobody is saying to get rid of the umps totally.

Ok so you are talking about something that has no bearing on the fact they suck at the most basic element of their job.

Not really you need 2. One from above. This identifies if its over the plate. If its not, easy enough to call it a ball. If it is over the plate you look at he timestamp then compare it to the second camera from pitchers point of view and see if the ball was within the vertical constraints of the zone. We literally can already do this.

In fact they literally already do this hence how we have the data that says the umps are wrong 15 percent of the time.

Actually it has been said to remove Umps completely. (Not necessarily on here but in general)

How do they suck? You're using one thing you read on a website that no one knows if the stats are even true. It's complete crap to be honest. You still never answered my questions from earlier.

Great idea, let's turn each game into a 7 or 8 hour event because you need to compare each pitch and check the timestamps.

As I said earlier that "data" you keep referring to needs a lot of work.

I'm honestly done wasting my time arguing. You think what you want and I'll think what I want. All I have to say is for those of you calling for changes like this better be willing to give up your own jobs when you make mistakes...

[hoosierpap 14,300]

This is a little interesting for me. In Philly, this came out, at least, 6 months ago. The top radio host here in Philly is Mike Missanelli and he had Dykstra on who said all of this. Although I feel like the $ amounts were more but idk, the interviews I'm sure are available. 

 

Anyways, today Missanelli went off on philly.com not picking this up until it was on Cowerd. It was a slight distraction from the typical Chip Kelly narrative :)

[biteoftheapple 4,115]

Dykstra is shady enough for this to be true, but with that being said, it also brings about the possibility he is fabricating a story, with his fraudulent history.

[hoosierpap 14,300]

Dykstra is shady enough for this to be true, but with that being said, it also brings about the possibility he is fabricating a story, with his fraudulent history.

 I don't think so. I'll try to find the original podcast I was talking about. 

[JaybobHoosier 11,839]

I Umpire and while I know it's little league and I don't get paid 6 figures a year, you can't just have a machine call the same all in one zone, and in the defense of the Umpires you guys can sit back and look at the K zone on TV and argue but as long as He's consistent all the time then He's doing a damn good job regardless of how you like his zone or not. If the K zone was always right then you'd start seeing games in double figures cause that zone takes the pitchers utility of the umpire out of the equation and a lot of the edges of the zone out.

I've umpires too and while it was 10-14 year olds, it's extremely difficult. People here are sitting back and judging humans trying to call strikes form pitches raining from 75-100mph+ pitches, but have no idea how hard it is.

I'm a purist with baseball, and the human feature about baseball is its best thing IMO. I am not a big fan of replay, and while I may get onto an ump, I have been in their shoes. Umps have good and bad games, and some are better. To suggest a computer strike zone would be the worst thing ever for baseball, and I don't see how people think it's a good idea. I rarely make these comments, but if you are a true baseball fan, you will never want a computer strike zone.

Baseball is more than replay and computer crap, it's a blue blood sport that is a game of honor. I'm passionate about my baseball, and it has to keep its pure roots intact! No other way about it!

[BtownBanner6 1,298]

I've umpires too and while it was 10-14 year olds, it's extremely difficult. People here are sitting back and judging humans trying to call strikes form pitches raining from 75-100mph+ pitches, but have no idea how hard it is.

I'm a purist with baseball, and the human feature about baseball is its best thing IMO. I am not a big fan of replay, and while I may get onto an ump, I have been in their shoes. Umps have good and bad games, and some are better. To suggest a computer strike zone would be the worst thing ever for baseball, and I don't see how people think it's a good idea. I rarely make these comments, but if you are a true baseball fan, you will never want a computer strike zone.

Baseball is more than replay and computer crap, it's a blue blood sport that is a game of honor. I'm passionate about my baseball, and it has to keep its pure roots intact! No other way about it!

Yeah same you got to hate the 9-10 yr olds, just starting out pitching, them games with no Time limit get long!