Are Human Umps Headed to Their 3^rd Strike?

“BALL OOONNNNNEEE,” that’s the sound of a baseball umpire calling a ball on a pitch that was on the outside corner.

The hitter thanked God, the pitcher is steaming red and the catcher is cursing his head off. This could also happen vice versa.

How can baseball reduce bad calls? Is it necessary or do boisterous arguments among umpires, ballplayers and managers add to the “charm” of the game? Does the answer lie in better training for “blues” or in nonhuman devices like robotic umpires?

The most visually challenged ump in the history of baseball is probably Angel Hernandez. He’s missed call after call after call and he’s just one of the umps that glasses won’t help.

I personally had this experience when I was catching a few weeks ago in Little League and our pitcher threw a 0-2 curve. The hitter was completely fooled and I knew it was coming. The ball bounced 2 inches to the right of home (catcher’s view) and I immediately knew it was drop 3rd strike and I quickly got up and picked up the ball and tagged the batter, TWICE!!

The ump didn’t say anything. I was confused so I looked behind me and he said, “No tag.”

So, our furious coach came out and started arguing with the ump, and I also joined the fray. No one realized the play was over until our third baseman yelled that he’s rounding second. Everyone saw that I tagged him, even the other team admitted that I tagged him.

Another instance in Little League (not the majors, Little League). I was on first and our hitter hit the ball to right field and the kid tried to make it look like he was Willie Mays and slid for the ball. Well, it worked for about a half a second. He caught the ball, and then he dropped it. The ump made no call and I was running to second thinking he didn’t catch it. Turns out, he caught it but the ump pretty much whispered “Out.” Then, I was caught in a rundown and was tagged out. Our team’s runner on third was also tagged out, a triple play.

Another piece of evidence for your consideration is that Boston University analyzed 4 million pitches and found out that MLB umpires made incorrect calls 20% of the time in 2018. Keep in mind that one-fifth could be the difference between getting into the playoffs or not.

When the batters had two strikes in the count, the percentage increased to 29%. (Credit: mlbmemes/ig).

I think that robotic umps will never make a bad call again; ejections will go down maybe 80% and the right teams will make it to the postseason. If the leagues and owners don’t want to do all of those things listed above, then using precise technology like Hawk Eye vision or camera’s at eye level to the catcher’s mit, may help reduce bad calls.

I must say, though, it is kind of fun watching Bryce Harper and other players screaming at umps and then getting ejected which add to the charisma of baseball, but, I am all for robotic umps. 

After Month-and-a-half, Mets Need Turnaround

But first to me player analysis …

75. Flame throwing Josh Hader is up next. Throw him in there in the eighth and he will get a six-out save. His arsenal of pitches is lethal to the hitters because he could twirl a curve that would look outside and then turn in, then throw a cutting slider for a strike, and then throw his unique fastball to finish off the batter. He hasn’t pitched like the Josh Hader in his prime with 2 losses with a 2.95 ERA with 6 walks in 18.1 innings and 4 hit by pitches. He has more than a strikeout per inning and gives up less than a hit an inning. He gave up 6 runs this year in addition to his control makes him a godsend for the Brewers with an okay bullpen. He strikes out about 60% of his batters faced and retires 79% of them. I don’t see any room for improvement for him and the Brewers should just let him grow. I think he should be in the mid to high 60s.

74. Chris Taylor. From being a bench warmer (no, that’s not the correct word, more like, bench burner) in Seattle to being a cornerstone of the Dodgers franchise (the Dodgers are like a Rectangular Prism, with 8 corners.) He posted a 17-homer season last year with 63 RBI and 85 runs. He’s definitely improving every single year. He needs to work on just making contact with the ball for hits. His .254 batting average is definitely not what I expected of him. He is a flexible guy that could play center, second, short, but he made most of his appearances as second and left this year with Corey Seager back from injury. He also needs to work on his batting eye, with 55 walks last year, ranking him tied for 68^th in the season. He’s always been fast, with 37 steals in his career, I think that he could exceed 17 steals (his season/career high) this year. I think that he should be in the low 50s.

73. Mike Clevinger is next but he’s not going to have a great year because he’s on the 60-day DL. He’s just not such a great pitcher. Last year he went 200 innings, amazing, only 13 pitchers did that, all of them not what you think of when someone says “elite pitchers.” His run totals are pretty high, 71 in all. He gave up 21 homers last year, which is a lot you might think, but last year, that’s actually tied for 54^th, crazy right? He gave up 164 hits last year with 67 walks. The Indians rotation is good and Mike is really a dark horse. He cruises through innings easily, averaging more than a strikeout per inning. His ERA is above 3, he retires around 80% of his batters faced, when you crunch numbers, you find stuff. I think he should be right where he is.

72. Now it’s Walker Beuhler turn. He’s 4-0 with a pretty high ERA, but let’s really get into his stats. He’s given up 21 runs in about 36 innings. He struck out 32 guys, not a big power pitcher. He strikes out only 22% of his batters faced. He likes to go around and get pop ups and grounders more. About 72% of the guys he faces, he retires. He’s given up only 4 homers and allowed 31 hits. Beuhler really proved himself in the playoffs last year where he emerged as a really good pitcher. In 23.2 innings, he struck out 29, he only gave up 16 hits and gave up only 10 runs, working mostly out of the bullpen. In the World Series, he started one game and pitched 7 solid innings giving up only two hits and striking out 7. He got the no decision and the Dodgers won their only game of the World Series. I think he should be in the 40s.

71. Up next is Brandon Nimmo. I think he’s a five-tool player, he just needs to expand on that and grow. His breakout year was last year, with 17 homers, his RBIs weren’t that great with 47 and 77 runs. He hit 8 triples and stole 9 bases. He walked 80 times with a .404 OBP and got beaned 22 times in 140 games. He hit 53 extra base hits and about 46% of his hits were extra base hits. He led off for the Mets 65 times last year, you could call him the leadoff hitter for the Amazins. He’s off to not-the-best start but I think he has potential this year. His fielding is amazing, he has four errors in his whole career. He makes great catches almost every night. I think he should be in the high 40s, low 50s.

The Mets need to pick it up, lost 5 of their 6, which is not that good. Jed Lowrie will stay in Syracuse for the weekend and then come back Monday. We’re playing the Marlins, a pretty easy opponent, so maybe here the Mets can start a winning rally. Albert Pujols made history and in some amount of style. He bombed a solo shot for his 2,000^th RBI, now, I want to do that. Jackie Bradely Jr. made a beautiful catch literally robbing Trey Mancini of a homer, not the first one he’s caught like that. Francisco Lindor is not off to a Francisco-Lindor-type of start to the season, only four homers, 7 RBIs and 9 runs. He’s stole 2 bags and only 4 extra base hits, rough start for him. Shohei Ohtani is back and he got his first hit and RBI of 2019 against the Tigers. Christian Yelich drank some sort of power drink when he went from Miami to Milwaukee (or maybe it was some good beer). He is raking it in Milwaukee, with winning MVP last season and hitting 16 homers this year with 37 RBIs. The Red Sox are coming out of the dumpster to being third place in the AL East at .500. Something really crazy happened, The St. Louis Cardinals scored 17 against the Pirates, usually, a team who scored 17 runs would’ve hit a home run, but no, they didn’t. Marcell Ozuna, who went 1-4, got 4 RBIs and 2 runs, somehow. Now, one of the most exciting times for baseball fans in the baseball season, the MLB Draft, June 3 to June 5, it’s gonna be lit. The Yankees somehow have the 4^th best record in the AL, some players are coming back, no more Wal-Mart baggers, but no one really good, but JA Happ allowed only 1 hit in 5 innings, what a pickup for the Yankees.