( KeithJJ / pixabay )
“The official strike zone is the area over home plate from the midpoint between a batter’s shoulders and the top of the uniform pants — when the batter is in his stance and prepared to swing at a pitched ball — and a point just below the kneecap. In order to get a strike call, part of the ball must cross over part of home plate while in the aforementioned area.” – MLB.com
That’s the official definition of the strike zone on MLB.com, although it seems to be more of a suggestion rather than a rule.
Ever since the first ball was thrown over 150 years ago, balls and strikes have been argued about. We’ve all seen a pitch called a strike, then within the same game, a pitch in the exact same location is called a ball.
How does this make any sense? Why do we just accept this?
It’s time we take a stand!
Ok, I digress.
But really, it makes no sense and it’s time the MLB remove the dictatorial power of a home-plate ump and replace it. Every other major league around the world has incorporated more and more technology to get calls right yet baseball doesn’t seem to want to do this.
Sure, they have video review but it’s not for everything and it’s definitely not for the strike zone. But never mind video review, you can’t even argue balls and strikes or the ump can throw you out of the game!
( KeithJJ / pixabay )
There’s subjective calls in all sports, like penalties in hockey, but none have the impact like the strike zone has in baseball because the zone controls the entire game. From the hitter’s approach to the next pitch, to the way the defense is strategizing, the count is one of the main factors in what’s determining a player’s next decision and on top of that, it’s what starts every single play in the game, unlike a penalty in hockey.
Take a subjective call in hockey, like hooking, for example. No player is basing they’re play to not hook. Of course they’re trying to avoid it, but not hooking or not taking a penalty isn’t what’s determining how they’re going to play in the game.
A better comparison would be the lines in tennis, although there’s nothing subjective about them.
The white lines surrounding the court make up the field of play in which the players are basing how they attack and defend. This is similar to how the baseball player sets himself up depending on the count.
In tennis, if the ball hits or is within the white line, it’s a point. If it’s out of the line, it’s not. What’s even more, is that tennis put technology in as soon as they could to make sure they get the calls right because it’s unrealistic, as well as impossible, for the human eye to be that accurate 100% of the time.
To show this, Boston University’s, Mark T. Williams and a team of graduates, experienced in data mining, stats and analytics, conducting a study at the Questrom School of Business that sent shockwaves throughout baseball.
They’re study showed that in 2018, the number of missed balls and/or strikes was 34, 249!
That’s 14 every game!
( KeithJJ / pixabay )
There’s no reason in this day and age of technology that we should have to deal with this non-sense.
A counter argument to this is since the definition of the strike zone is partly based on a player’s dimensions, the technology wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Well, maybe that’s a good thing.
The strike zone should be a set size for all players. This would make it completely even and fair for anyone to prepare. Do we lower the hoop on a basketball court for a player that’s 5’5” and then raise it again for the 7’1” player? Size is an advantage or disadvantage in all sports, it’s what you make of it.
With all this considered, we wouldn’t be removing the home-plate ump entirely, we would just be removing his ability to call strikes and balls, replacing it with doppler radar technology. This has already been used in other leagues with ease and success.
There would be radar set up in the stadiums that would have a set target area over home plate. It wouldn’t change between each batter, it is what it is for everyone. With each pitch, the ump would receive a signal from the radar on a device he holds and then he would relay it to the field. Some will say that this is basically removing the home-plate ump from the game, but I think not.
Umpire’s and refs aren’t competing in the sport, they’re there only to call it. For example, the ref in soccer doesn’t determine whether a goal was scored. The ball crossing the white line determines that, the ref just tells you it did cross the line. He’s just there to relay that information.
Having radar call strikes and balls would eliminate close calls, but more importantly it would remove the egregious ones we see daily.
( stanbalik / pixabay )
If you think this may ruin some of the tradition of baseball, what tradition? The tradition of getting calls wrong? The tradition of two of the same pitches getting called differently from inning to inning with zero explanations? I’m all in for keeping traditions but this is so unnecessary, archaic, and is just downright silly while looking like the bush league.
When I see a pitch cross over the white line of the batter’s box and it’s called a strike… Yes, that’s silly. Yes, that’s bush league.
With the technology we have today, this should have been done yesterday, but baseball simply refuses to acknowledge the problem. This seems to always be a conversation that is had after a bad call, then after some bantering, everyone moves on, accepts it and forgets it, untill the next missed call.The strike zone has too much impact on the entirety of the game for the calls to be blown as often as they are. We have the technology, so lets use it.