Robo Ump Comes to Major League Baseball

[silverscreenselect]

This season marks the debut of the robot umpire, who is available to check ball/strike calls. The system has been streamlined to minimize downtime waiting for calls to be verified. Each team gets two unsuccessful challenges for the entire game. Only the pitcher, catcher, and batter can challenge a call, and they must do so immediately after the pitch. If the challenge is unsuccessful, the team loses one of its remaining challenges. If the challenge is successful, the team keeps the challenge and could theoretically challenge dozens of pitches during the game. Once a pitch is challenged, it is replayed on the stadium video board (and TV broadcast) immediately so the entire stadium can see what happened. The strike zone is determined by a batter's height, not by his stance at the plate.

The system was in effect during spring training, and an average of 4.32 calls per game were challenged, slightly more than half of which were successful. Challenges by the defense were more likely to be successful than those by the batter.

[BackInTex]

The strike zone is determined by a batter's height, not by his stance at the plate.

That should go without question.

I also wonder though, if there should be some adjustment for exceptional hieights, either short or tall. Seems a little unfair that Jose Altuve only has to defend a 17.5 inch strike zone while Aaron Judge's is more like 21 inches (almost 20% bigger). And Altuve has the advantage of a shorting stroke so we can get the bat around quicker. Just thinking....

[mrkelley23]

Can I just say that the rule book I learned said that the stroke zone was determined by the batters "usual stance at the plate" and not my his height? Pete Rose had a deep crouch and that may have given him some advantage, but the strike zone as it was supposed to be called would have been much lower than what ABS would have called. Seems unfair to me. When there's only 200 some odd players, it seems to me that MLB could follow their own rulebook.

[silverscreenselect]

The robot umpire made its debut last night in the Yankees-Giants opening game. New York's Jose Caballero challenged a pitch he thought was inside in the fourth inning, but the replay review showed it did catch the corner of the plate, and the call was upheld. New York lost a challenge, but it made little difference in the outcome of the game in which the Yankees, who were ahead 5-0 at the time of the review, went on to win 7-0.

[Vandal]

The Red Sox had two strike calls overturned and both led to a run scored. The calls are reviewed faster than a player can remove body armor.