Posted on 07/11/2019 1:05:58 PM PDT by Jacquerie
The plate umpire wore an earpiece connected to an iPhone in his pocket and relayed the call upon receiving it from a TrackMan computer system that uses Doppler radar.
YORK, Pa. — “Robot umpires” have arrived.
The independent Atlantic League became the first American professional baseball league to let a computer call balls and strikes Wednesday night at its All-Star Game. Plate umpire Brian deBrauwere wore an earpiece connected to an iPhone in his pocket and relayed the call upon receiving it from a TrackMan computer system that uses Doppler radar.
He crouched in his normal position behind the catcher and signaled balls and strikes.
“Until we can trust this system 100%, I still have to go back there with the intention of getting a pitch correct because if the system fails, it doesn’t pick a pitch up or if it registers a pitch that’s a foot-and-a-half off the plate as a strike, I have to be prepared to correct that,” deBrauwere said before the game.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...
Interesting. I’ve thought about that. Thanks for posting.
But do they call technical fouls?
Lemme guess, about as reliable as voting machine software.
When he was in Detroit, Justin Verlander seemed to be getting squeezed by the umps all the time.
AT Al somer’s umpire school 1969, Harry Wendlestedt told us this was coming. What took so long?
Are they programmed to throw out the manager if he argues a call? And what happens if a foul ball hits them in their hard drive? That’s gotta hurt.
“...if the system fails, it doesn’t pick a pitch up or if it registers a pitch that’s a foot-and-a-half off the plate as a strike, I have to be prepared to correct that,” deBrauwere said before the game.
But if the pitch is just a couple inches outside, he’ll just let it go. Cuz ‘puters.
Yes, it was inevitable (and sad imo).
Looking forward to the day AI can replace human referees on the gridiron.
Wait , that would be a robot ump B L O G
Better wake HIM up
when humans makes mistake on balls and strikes no one or thing is allowed to correct it.
Players like consistency. They learn what the umpires do from umps to umps. With robots they don’t have to adjust from game to game, more consistency. You’ll never get consistency from one ump to another on balls and strikes.,
Trackman has been used for years to evaluate umpires.
MLB is in a three year program testing Trackman in their minor leagues.
I’m waiting for the day a hologram strike zone will be developed to insure strike/ball calling accuracy.......
In the future two humans on the filed non-players an ump to check on the robots and a maintenance person to keep them operating.
Thanx for the comment s about Trackman didn’t know about that.
“When he was in Detroit, Justin Verlander seemed to be getting squeezed by the umps all the time.”
They were just jealous about Kate Upton.
It isn’t bad. While it can’t distinguish between a ball in the the strike zone that had bounced odd the dirt, its very good at calling waist-high strikes that umps typically call balls.
Correction: “and one that had bounced off the dirt”
Is the electronic strike zone the same size for someone 6’6 as it is for someone 5’5? Is it a one size fits all strike zone no matter the height or stance of the hitter?
From the article: “Strike zones are determined according to the average for players of that height unless there’s already information on a player’s particular strike zone if they’ve played in the majors at some point.”
I predict a massive fall off in scoring. That ball on the black is always going to be called a strike with this, as will the high strike that isn’t called now. Many more balls on the black than balls that completely miss the zone and are still called strikes. Not that they shouldn’t do this, but yeesh they are already having problems with strikeout numbers. It will make the games quicker too I bet which is needed. I wonder if we will have a lot of 14 inning 2 hour 1-0 games though until players get used to expanded correct zones. That could take many seasons. I bet if they do this they will do something to the mound again. They already juiced the living heck out of the balls the last few seasons.
Freegards
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