Personally, I prefer no displayed strike zone at all. It’s fun making up one’s own mind if it is a strike or ball before the umpire makes the call. It also gives an appreciation what a tricky job home plate umpiring is.
It would be nice if MLB.TV made the strike zone box an optional overlay. But they can't do that because it's baked into the feed they're rebroadcasting. Overall considering MLB.TV's price ($30 a month, nearly double what a lot of standard streaming services cost despite only offering one sport) I wish they'd offer way more features. Take a cue from esports spectator tools and let us either choose to watch the broadcast feed or pick any camera we want to view from, or even let us tile multiple POVs. But they won't do that because the RSNs would throw a fit.
The strike zone box was inaccurate on both the Guardians and Mariners broadcasts. I had a feeling the pitch where Crawford and Servias was ejected was a strike when I saw the replay on the ESPN MLB RUclips Channel.
Can you talk about how the pitches are tracked and assigned those different metrics? Like is it cameras or radar? How are there calibrated for each stadium and game?
That's why they need to lose the box... it's one thing if it's right.. but clearly in this case (and many others).. it's not even close.. yes, that outside pitch was off... it happens.. but this incorrect calibration just serves to make the ump look bad when he's NOT.. that outside pitch.. hey, he missed it.. it happens on pitches coming in at that Velo... the rest here. just serve to make him look bad when he's not..
The player isn’t arguing based on some lines on the tv screen. They might have the incorrect graphics on tv, but that has nothing to do with the people in the game.
I think the real problem is the first pitch of the game. The Ump was confused and thought the batters box was the edge of the plate. That is a terrible miss. In the at bats the ump gave the pitcher both sides of the plate and the top of the zone. Most of the pitches were strikes or borderline. I am confused about why there is such a big difference between TV broadcasts and other systems when looking at calls.
A buddy of mine calls minor leagues that use ABS. He says he gets a tone and calls accordingly. When he get arguements from the bench, he points to the ear piece gives a little shrug to the bench. Which deflates the flack. Doesn't change the happiness of the complaining team.
@@donh6416 the trouble with that of course (minus a terrible strike zone) is that frustration will eventually boil over on some call that *is* up to the umpire.
@@Renegade605 Good point. I've never thought about that. I can hear it in my head right now. "You don't control the zone, but you do control that garbage call you just made on the play at home! You don't have to worry about balls and strikes, so maybe focus on getting the other stuff right!"
They do, to the extent of using prefilled data, but it can’t adjust to measured zone height data on the fly which means it takes until the numbers are processed, sometimes overnight, to get accurate measurements.
@@CloseCallSportsumm, no they don’t. In the Diamondback’s booth in DC there were three monitors. All had “program”, what the fans in Arizona saw at home. Unless one of the announcers is looking at a website on their tablet or laptop there is no magic feed.
If you vote for me as Commissioner of MLB, my first edict will be to remove the box graphic from TV. After that, I will resign now that I've made the world a better place.
Boo! Yeah, sometimes the vertical (high/low) boundaries don't work, but the horizontal (inside/outside) boundaries changed the game a couple decades ago by eliminating a lot of called strikes that were way outside. Besides, even the vertical boundaries are pretty good most of the time. They just need to educate the broadcasters in the booth that the vertical boundaries are estimates and should be taken with a grain of salt. I actually watched Jomboy's breakdown on this pair of ejections before finding this video, and I could tell pretty easily that the top of the strike zone graphic was far too low for this batter and the stance he took.
Do you think in the future with ABS using the MLB zone and broadcasts using their own zone (assuming that the broadcast zone is incorrect), there would be more ball/strike arguments after an ABS replay? I could imagine announcers saying something like, "WHAT did they see there???" After looking at a replay of a ball clearly missing their own zone but ABS saying that it definitely was in the correct MLB zone.
The media broadcasts need to get rid of their box or use the standard MLB strike zone chart. There are a number of ejections that the umpire get the call right. However, thanks to the inadequate strike zone box the media uses, it paint umpires in a bad light. Also, I'm against robotic umps calling balls and strikes. However, setting up a challenge process that utilizes the MLB strike zone chart and numbers, will hopefully reduce the number of ejections.
Clearly hitters are seeing video with the box in the dugout. Get rid of that video in the dugout or get rid of the box until you figure out how to fix it.
Go watch videos of ABS ejections. Coaches/players still argue with the PU as he points to his ear signaling that he isn’t making the calls. They argue and get ejected anyway. Quite funny.
Eddings handled these ejections very well in my opinion. Put up with some gripes, warned, and ejected. Didn't rile anyone up more than they already were.
@@mikecumbo7531 Scorebug is terribly outdated, they have technical issues with their graphics about once a week, one time the feed glitched and repeated the same pitch for 2 hours, they take up a bunch of screen space with the pop out "stat" of "BATTING 6TH IN THE ORDER"
How could anyone argue a strike when it's at his belt and clearly over the plate? Can you imagine todays players with the 80s and 90s umps? Maddox would have walked A LOT of batters in his 78 pitch game. Every batter today would be ejected before the 5th inning for arguing those nasty calls.
The dumbest rule in the history of baseball-“can’t argue balls and strikes”. And I’m a former umpire (obviously not in major leagues but youth through Hs). Let people vent and if they’re disrespectful, eject them. Same with balks. “I blew a call but you argued it and by rule you’re out” is so friggin stupid.
I'll suggest it again, fixed height/width strike zones for everyone. Then you can get ABS AND TV strike zones to be correct, every time. And it'd get rid of the weird batter stances putting their knees and chest together, etc. The fact that the top of that TV strike zone is below the batters belt when he's standing tells you all you need to know about its correctness.
@@Renegade605 I imagine the players would do better at bat if they KNEW where the strike zone was rather than this randomly sized zone (See Aaron Judge, does he have an advantage at the moment? Or is he disadvantaged?) 6'7" is about the tallest batter these days, 5'7" is about the smallest. Considering the strike zone going to differ by at most 6": 3" at the bottom, 3" (+3 from the bottom) at the top at the moment. Split the difference (use the median 6'1") and you have it. The strike zone definition is variable because the original writers of the rules didn't have instant replay, tv strike zone boxes (that are incorrect) and batters/managers/coaches complaining about every single pitch that they go check in the dugout on their ipads. It's much like the definition of a check swing. That needs to be codified to an objective standard and then it becomes reviewable. And runner's lane interference. Run in the prescribed path, you're good, don't run it it, you're out.
@@Renegade605 I'm a computer programmer, I like things that don't use "fuzzy logic" (or the current buzzword, "AI"). I like things to be defined well, because if you don't... well... you get these videos :).
Lindsay, please listen to the technical director who covers up to 100 MLB games a year, the box comes from MLB. The local TV networks DO NOT control the box. Second, on occasion the pitch box feed fails. We have both camera 4 “clean” and with the box. It’s really simple.
Either get rid of the box on tv, or start fineing (what ever that word should be) for having a trash zone shown on tv making people think umps have no clue. Now no excuse for the first one though.
I stopped watching baseball all together. I got tired of the umpires determining the outcomes of the games. Why watch the games when the umpires are going to do what they want? But I do see since I’ve been gone that nothing has changed. You still make excuses for the umpires… always. At least you are consistent
@@MwD676 Since they aren't using the robot no one corrected it. If they were, they'd stop the game like when the NBA shot clock has an issue and fix it before proceeding. Who is stopping the game to correct these umps?
I was watching this live and noticed that JP's box looked like it belonged to Altuve.
Yeah, that might have been my strike zone, not JP's.
Yeah, that zone is below his balls
Personally, I prefer no displayed strike zone at all. It’s fun making up one’s own mind if it is a strike or ball before the umpire makes the call. It also gives an appreciation what a tricky job home plate umpiring is.
It would be nice if MLB.TV made the strike zone box an optional overlay. But they can't do that because it's baked into the feed they're rebroadcasting. Overall considering MLB.TV's price ($30 a month, nearly double what a lot of standard streaming services cost despite only offering one sport) I wish they'd offer way more features. Take a cue from esports spectator tools and let us either choose to watch the broadcast feed or pick any camera we want to view from, or even let us tile multiple POVs. But they won't do that because the RSNs would throw a fit.
@@patientallisonno strike zone should be a feature. I feel like they are forcing artificial lines on viewers, it takes away from the game imo.
Those strikes were called balls for Guardians players. Wildly inconsistent strike zone. Ump should have been ejected instead.
The strike zone box was inaccurate on both the Guardians and Mariners broadcasts. I had a feeling the pitch where Crawford and Servias was ejected was a strike when I saw the replay on the ESPN MLB RUclips Channel.
Can you talk about how the pitches are tracked and assigned those different metrics? Like is it cameras or radar? How are there calibrated for each stadium and game?
That's why they need to lose the box... it's one thing if it's right.. but clearly in this case (and many others).. it's not even close.. yes, that outside pitch was off... it happens.. but this incorrect calibration just serves to make the ump look bad when he's NOT.. that outside pitch.. hey, he missed it.. it happens on pitches coming in at that Velo... the rest here. just serve to make him look bad when he's not..
The player isn’t arguing based on some lines on the tv screen. They might have the incorrect graphics on tv, but that has nothing to do with the people in the game.
I think the real problem is the first pitch of the game. The Ump was confused and thought the batters box was the edge of the plate. That is a terrible miss. In the at bats the ump gave the pitcher both sides of the plate and the top of the zone. Most of the pitches were strikes or borderline. I am confused about why there is such a big difference between TV broadcasts and other systems when looking at calls.
Where players go back to the d dugout after ab at bat to look at as tablet, what do they see, the broadcast strike zone or the official mlb??
They see what is on TV. That’s why we have so many problems…this is easily fixable. I do not understand why MLB can’t get their arms around this.
@1969EType MLB doesn't want to. Controversy draws attention and increases revenue. Whether in the park, on TV or on social media. It makes $$$$.
@@donh6416 This is EXACTLY correct…exactly correct. MLB is WWE now.
My understanding is that what they get in the dugout doesn't have the box at all.
Root had an issue with the scorebug during today’s game, I’m not sure if they’re related but it’s notable.
Nope. The two devices are not connected.
How do the tall players never know their strike zone is higher??
They read the rules.
Scott Servais ejections are my favs! I love his "Look how big the fish I just caught is" schtick with his arms!!! Classic!
2:50 I went to a AAA ABS game last year, and it was garbage. It was all over the place up and down. Pitchers and batters were pissed all game long.
A buddy of mine calls minor leagues that use ABS. He says he gets a tone and calls accordingly. When he get arguements from the bench, he points to the ear piece gives a little shrug to the bench. Which deflates the flack. Doesn't change the happiness of the complaining team.
@@donh6416 I heard the ump at my game yell over at the dugout, "It's not what I would call, but I don't get a say in this!"
@@donh6416 the trouble with that of course (minus a terrible strike zone) is that frustration will eventually boil over on some call that *is* up to the umpire.
@@Renegade605 Good point. I've never thought about that. I can hear it in my head right now. "You don't control the zone, but you do control that garbage call you just made on the play at home! You don't have to worry about balls and strikes, so maybe focus on getting the other stuff right!"
@@XXelpollodiabloXX nice rhyming.
Also, I though Doug Eddings was on Bill Miller's crew. I remember seeing Bill Miller in Pittsburgh when David Bell was ejected.
Why doesn’t the broadcast booth have the MLB strike zone box?
They do, to the extent of using prefilled data, but it can’t adjust to measured zone height data on the fly which means it takes until the numbers are processed, sometimes overnight, to get accurate measurements.
@@CloseCallSportsumm, no they don’t. In the Diamondback’s booth in DC there were three monitors. All had “program”, what the fans in Arizona saw at home. Unless one of the announcers is looking at a website on their tablet or laptop there is no magic feed.
@@mikecumbo7531 Did you not even read the comment? The entire thing, not just the first line. It's hard, I know, but we believe in you.
How often does this happen?
When the manager AND player both get ejected, do they just, like, shoot the shit in the clubhouse together?
Watched it live, and all game I thought the box was so suspect. I knew that would be a strike later on
If you vote for me as Commissioner of MLB, my first edict will be to remove the box graphic from TV. After that, I will resign now that I've made the world a better place.
You got my voice!
Boo! Yeah, sometimes the vertical (high/low) boundaries don't work, but the horizontal (inside/outside) boundaries changed the game a couple decades ago by eliminating a lot of called strikes that were way outside. Besides, even the vertical boundaries are pretty good most of the time. They just need to educate the broadcasters in the booth that the vertical boundaries are estimates and should be taken with a grain of salt. I actually watched Jomboy's breakdown on this pair of ejections before finding this video, and I could tell pretty easily that the top of the strike zone graphic was far too low for this batter and the stance he took.
I’ve been saying it all along…..get rid of the damn box! What good does it do? Answer….nothing.
MLB needs to makenlive games without strike zone boxes. If you want definitive answers show top down and side views.
Do you think in the future with ABS using the MLB zone and broadcasts using their own zone (assuming that the broadcast zone is incorrect), there would be more ball/strike arguments after an ABS replay? I could imagine announcers saying something like, "WHAT did they see there???" After looking at a replay of a ball clearly missing their own zone but ABS saying that it definitely was in the correct MLB zone.
@2:27 are u a programmer or did u pull this code from a baseball system source code??
It’s very intriguing as a CS major.
Looks like JSON, which always gives me a migraine.
That's how the numbers are provided. There is an API for retrieving that data.
To quote Joe Simpson; Doug Eddings HAS a problem.
What’s the updated pace for ejection this year?
The media broadcasts need to get rid of their box or use the standard MLB strike zone chart. There are a number of ejections that the umpire get the call right. However, thanks to the inadequate strike zone box the media uses, it paint umpires in a bad light.
Also, I'm against robotic umps calling balls and strikes. However, setting up a challenge process that utilizes the MLB strike zone chart and numbers, will hopefully reduce the number of ejections.
MLB needs to spend the money and get their system integrated with their broadcast partners instead of leaving all of them to make their own.
Have any broadcasts ever toyed with using a sort of blurry box rather than one with such a hard defined edge?
what a surprise.
I love how you rip the broadcasters ove their pettiness 🤣🤣🤣
Over
Clearly hitters are seeing video with the box in the dugout. Get rid of that video in the dugout or get rid of the box until you figure out how to fix it.
Outside the box😊
so if they start using Robo Ump, does that mean they'll have an AI robot for managers to argue with.?
Go watch videos of ABS ejections. Coaches/players still argue with the PU as he points to his ear signaling that he isn’t making the calls. They argue and get ejected anyway. Quite funny.
@@FAB_GNC lol. thanks.
Eddings handled these ejections very well in my opinion. Put up with some gripes, warned, and ejected. Didn't rile anyone up more than they already were.
Servais leading the league???
Root Sports is an abomination of a network.
What is wrong with Root? Their main director is excellent.
@@mikecumbo7531 Scorebug is terribly outdated, they have technical issues with their graphics about once a week, one time the feed glitched and repeated the same pitch for 2 hours, they take up a bunch of screen space with the pop out "stat" of "BATTING 6TH IN THE ORDER"
That first pitch was so bad though I get why he’s upset
I get why he was upset about the first pitch of the game. At some point you have to move on.
@@vincentwendt720 At some point MLB needs to move on from umps calling balls and strikes.
@@Thanatos2k”Pitch data shows Robo Ump Strike Zone didn’t work as hoped.” Did you miss that part?
@@FAB_GNC Like a malfunctioning shot clock in the NBA, if they were using the system they would stop the game and correct it before continuing play.
@@Thanatos2kunless of course it can’t be fixed at that moment. then what is your answer? Oh and the system still has some issues with vertical.
How could anyone argue a strike when it's at his belt and clearly over the plate? Can you imagine todays players with the 80s and 90s umps? Maddox would have walked A LOT of batters in his 78 pitch game. Every batter today would be ejected before the 5th inning for arguing those nasty calls.
Some MLB apologist action here.
First time I've ever seen a strikeout when all 3 pitches were actually outside the strike zone!
They were outside the “box.” But the box was not an accurate representation of the zone.
Doug Eddings is the worst. Been the worst for 20+ years and that's taking Angel Hernandez, laz Diaz and all the other candidates into consideration.
And MLB wants to speed up games? Robo umps solve all these issues.
there may be some talk in the competition committee about a crackdown about using media to argue balls and strikes by attaching a suspension to it
Lol, why would the competition committee care about this
Suspend Doug Eddings!
The dumbest rule in the history of baseball-“can’t argue balls and strikes”. And I’m a former umpire (obviously not in major leagues but youth through Hs). Let people vent and if they’re disrespectful, eject them. Same with balks. “I blew a call but you argued it and by rule you’re out” is so friggin stupid.
So to recap: Humanity has put humans on the moon and rovers on Mars...But we can't get an accurate strike zone in real time?
Correct.
Ah yes, let's compare tasks of which I have no concept of the relative difficulty like that's some kind of gotcha.
@@Renegade605 relative difficulty? Are you saying putting people on the moon should be easier than an automated strike
zone?
@@noellutsey5620 well, we did that. With a small fraction of the processing power we have now. So yes, it was easier.
@@Renegade605 I'm just saying that's pretty much one of the greatest achievements in history
Sooooooo maybe stop using it?
If the MLB put robot umps in place, players, managers, coaches, and fans would still find a way to complain about it
I'll suggest it again, fixed height/width strike zones for everyone. Then you can get ABS AND TV strike zones to be correct, every time. And it'd get rid of the weird batter stances putting their knees and chest together, etc.
The fact that the top of that TV strike zone is below the batters belt when he's standing tells you all you need to know about its correctness.
So do you suggest giving tall batters the advantage or short batters the disadvantage?
Come on, the strike zone changes with height for a reason.
@@Renegade605 I imagine the players would do better at bat if they KNEW where the strike zone was rather than this randomly sized zone (See Aaron Judge, does he have an advantage at the moment? Or is he disadvantaged?)
6'7" is about the tallest batter these days, 5'7" is about the smallest. Considering the strike zone going to differ by at most 6": 3" at the bottom, 3" (+3 from the bottom) at the top at the moment. Split the difference (use the median 6'1") and you have it.
The strike zone definition is variable because the original writers of the rules didn't have instant replay, tv strike zone boxes (that are incorrect) and batters/managers/coaches complaining about every single pitch that they go check in the dugout on their ipads.
It's much like the definition of a check swing. That needs to be codified to an objective standard and then it becomes reviewable. And runner's lane interference. Run in the prescribed path, you're good, don't run it it, you're out.
@@ericweeks8386 it sounds like you just don't like baseball that much. There are plenty of other sports to watch that don't have judgment calls.
@@Renegade605Where's Bill Veeck and Eddie Gaedel when you need them?
@@Renegade605 I'm a computer programmer, I like things that don't use "fuzzy logic" (or the current buzzword, "AI"). I like things to be defined well, because if you don't... well... you get these videos :).
Lindsay, please listen to the technical director who covers up to 100 MLB games a year, the box comes from MLB. The local TV networks DO NOT control the box.
Second, on occasion the pitch box feed fails. We have both camera 4 “clean” and with the box.
It’s really simple.
If you watch a lot of games, it's pretty obvious that that isn't true. This box had the bottom edge at his shins and the top edge mid stomach.
@@srellison561 what isn’t true?
@@mikecumbo7531 That all the TV stations use the MLB box. Different coverages very obviously have different sized boxes.
@@srellison561 everything comes from MLB in NJ.
@@mikecumbo7531 I believe you, but it's a big country with a lot of different networks that broadcast baseball
Use any box you care to, Doug Eddings stinks
The data literally says otherwise.
Players don't
@@FrankRice-v2k You realize that would indicate that the players are wrong?
Either get rid of the box on tv, or start fineing (what ever that word should be) for having a trash zone shown on tv making people think umps have no clue. Now no excuse for the first one though.
Only once they start fining Doug Eddings' optometrist
Can’t wait for AI to take over balls and strikes.
Did you miss this part, “Triple A Pitch Data Shows Robo Ump Strike Zone Didn’t Work As Hoped”?
MLB experiments with robot umpires to bring a definite opinion on balls and strikes with 100% accuracy.
Has 2 different robots…..
I stopped watching baseball all together. I got tired of the umpires determining the outcomes of the games. Why watch the games when the umpires are going to do what they want?
But I do see since I’ve been gone that nothing has changed. You still make excuses for the umpires… always. At least you are consistent
Thinking it’s excusing the umps rather than defending them from atrocious arguments, eh? Many times the umps follow protocol exactly.
@@mbdg6810 Was that first pitch of the game following protocol?
Yet batting .300 is really good, right? Or you can look at it as failing 70% of the time. Humans (and robots) make mistakes. Relax and enjoy the game.
@@Thanatos2k Right. We watched the human miss one call, and then the robot miss three.
@@MwD676 Since they aren't using the robot no one corrected it. If they were, they'd stop the game like when the NBA shot clock has an issue and fix it before proceeding.
Who is stopping the game to correct these umps?
Eddings is the next Angel Hernandez
🥱
first