I am using the above as an illustration only. My question is why Pitch 1 is often referred to "Inside Corner" when in fact, its no where near a corner. Seemingly, any pitch on the inside "edge" is called "inside corner" and ditto for the outside. Why is this? Pitch 5, is actually on a corner. Just curious.
Strike zones are 3-D. If you look at flight path from above, it will appear to hit the front inside corner of the plate.
I agree with Ben Zobrist. Just make it electronic already. Is there are resource that tracks actual stats of incorrect calls by umpires? I would love to see something like "Jim Joyce's correct call % for non-batted balls is ___%." It'd be fascinating to me to see that for each ump, the same way batting averages are displayed for players.
By umpire, not found a site specifically for that. @Astrosump on twitter is probably the easiest for games involving Astros in determining if Astros are being hosed or not. They only identify pitches that were called differently than they usually are.
What he said. In 3D, there are 8 corners to the strike zone. So technically pitch 5 may not have hit a corner either, if it was tailing and actually hit the middle (between front and back of plate) while being on the outside and at the knees. So any description of a corner is referencing the 2D image from the top and talking about one of the 4 corners of the plate. Because the ball is moving so fast, it takes slow motion to see if it actually nicked a corner and not something more specific. And it takes 3D imaging and overly descriptive language to do something truly accurate with the word "corner" (outer-lower-front corner). But yes, "inside edge" and "outside edge at the knees" would be more accurate.
This is an interesting website that shows which umps are more likely to call a pitch a ball and which are more likely to call a pitch a strike https://swishanalytics.com/mlb/mlb-umpire-factors
So for example if we take the infamous Angel Hernandez, we see that pitchers are going to have a 9% higher chance than normal of recording a strike out and will be 13% less likely than normal to walk a batter. We also see that when Angel is behind the plate, batters are effectively punished as they are 5% less likely to reach base and 4% less likely to get a hit.
Interesting how the current strike zone dips lower than ever before. That definitely is a muddy zone for umps. Someone like Keuchel who attempts to always throw low strikes can either completely dominate or get completely dominated depending on whether the particular ump behind the plate that day is calling strikes in that lower section or not. I think it's time to take the human factor out of strike calls.
I wonder how far in advance umpiring crews are announced in the postseason. If Hinch knows, for example, that the Game 1 home plate umpire will be someone who doesn't call the low strike, he might want to start a different pitcher instead for Game 1 and save Keuchel for Game 2.
Below the knees to the letters. A baseball width on either side of the plate, that gives both the pitchers and hitters a chance. And LOL at the '96 strike zone, that was obviously not when the Braves were pitching. (Or Eric Gregg and Livan Hernandez)
Enhanced reality eyeware. It's simple. They look at the volume, see if it's a strike or not, make the call. We all can go home happy. Given they make about 95% calls correct it's not that big a deal. But it would be nice to be 100% correct because frankly, the tech allows it. Then all you need to worry about are the hackers. And umpires who leave their passwords laying around.
The numbers ive seen is more around 85% for correct for ump calls. About 1 out of 6 wrong. Watching the games and looking at their computer strike zone vs the call, it looks like 1 in 4 are wrong.
Umpires wearing white wristbands until 'concerns taken seriously' by MLB **** Angel Hernandez, this is just ludicrous: Some umpires across Major League Baseball are wearing white wristbands Saturday, a show of solidarity after Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler was fined -- and not suspended -- for harsh criticism of Angel Hernandez earlier this week. "This week, a player publicly and harshly impugned the character and integrity of Angel Hernandez -- a veteran umpire who has dedicated his career to baseball and the community," the World Umpires Association (WUA) said in a statement. "The verbal attack on Angel denigrated the entire MLB umpiring staff and is unacceptable." Kinsler was ejected for questioning Hernandez's balls and strikes calls Monday. A day later, he called Hernandez a bad umpire who is "messing with baseball games, blatantly," adding: "He needs to find another job, he really does." Speaking again Friday, Kinsler said he was fined for the comments (the second baseman did not disclose the amount), but that he had no regrets about what he said. Kinsler fined for harsh Hernandez comments Ian Kinsler did not disclose the amount of the fine, but did note that he had no regrets for what he said about umpire Angel Hernandez. "The Office of the Commissioner has failed to address this and other escalating attacks on umpires," the WUA said Saturday. "The player who denigrated Hernandez publicly said he thought he would be suspended. Instead [he] got far more lenient treatment -- a fine. He shrugged that off and told reporters he has 'no regrets' about his offensive statements calling for an end to Hernandez's career. "The Office of the Commissioner's lenient treatment to abusive player behavior sends the wrong message to players and managers. It's 'open season' on umpires, and that's bad for the game." It was unclear how many umpires would wear the wristbands in support of Hernandez on Saturday. In the Dodgers-Tigers game in Detroit, for example, second-base umpire Bill Miller and third-base umpire Todd Tichenor wore the wristbands on their left arms. Home-plate umpire Adam Hamari and first-base umpire Chris Segal did not appear to wear any. Joe West, CB Bucknor, etc... their union protects these incompetents... Bring on the robots.
