Striking Out: Are Umpires on a Power Trip? Or Clinging to a Disappearing Job?

So much history in the relationships between players/coaches and umpires.  Things are changing so fast right now, umpires, especially the older ones, are having a hard time adjusting.

If you have never seen rugby officials interact with the players, watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43AdWFSXhgs

Rugby is extremely violent and aggressive, yet watch how both sides interact with each other.  You will never look at baseball officiating the same.

Quite honestly, the umpiring these days is so much better than it was 20 years ago, which was so much better than it was 20 years before that. Check out the strike zone in Game 5 of the 1997 World Series and imagine if that happened today. 

The worst umpires we see in the game are the leftovers from generations ago. Wendelstedt is a nepo baby that entered the league in '98. CB Bucknor debuted in '96. Angel Hernandez '91. Conversely, the newer umps we see have been trained with the same pitch data as the hitters and pitchers in the league and have been able to improve as they made their way into the Bigs. 

That Yankees strike zone? That's pretty consistent if not large, and Aaron Judge was rightfully tossed. Every big leaguer knows you can respectfully disagree with a call but if you call the ump ******** you're gone. Bichette, a bit of a gray area. Equipment violations are subject to being tossed. 

That being said, a Ball/Strikes challenge system IS coming as we see it being tested in the minors. It's not going to be robo-umps and frankly, I don't want that. 

Umpiring is so difficult, with everything happening so fast & try to get it right. There is human bias bigger teams are favored over smaller ones,  vets especially popular ones get favored over rookies, each ump calls strikes & balls differently. Raunchy fans can pressure umps to make a certain call. Miss calls make a lot of difference for the pitcher or batters in leverage, Managers & players can't argue strikes & balls. Some say it's entertaining to watch managers argue but it doesn't pay & the ump can get it in for you. The electronic strike zone will eliminate human error & make it uniform. I prefer fairness more some crazy form of entertainment. If you like to be entertained maybe they can direct an allstar-wrestling match with a fake manager fake pile driving a fake umpire at the 7th inning stretch.

You have human error yet  I've watched replays believing it was one way & yet HQ called it the other. Sometimes even replays it's difficult to get it right. IMO we need to eliminate human error as much as possible. That's means eliminating as much as possible referees' errors & absolute dictating.

Yup, I saw the replay of Boone getting the bum call. The guy in the standing was the problem, no doubt. Sorry, but I laughed at that one. For all the calls the Yankees have got, they got one back on them that day. Somebody needs to buy the ump a couple beers and say good call.

No.  That stiff Wendelstadt that threw out Boone needs to go.  Him and Gardy went at it for years.  He is not a bad ump, just not a good one.  CB Bucknor and Angel Hernandez should be shipped out permanently.  I know umpiring is tough.  I don't mind the truly borderline pitches going one way or another.  But the obvious ones blown bother me.  Umpires egos are way out of line.  The umpires I respect are the ones that maybe will apologize to the pitcher or hitter later saying he missed the call or at least explaining to them what he saw on the pitch.  I have no sympathy though for players getting called out on a pitch that could have gone either way.  Home plate umpiring does need to improve.

They aren't doing the challenge system and robo umps in the minors for nothing. It's only a matter of time before it comes to MLB and I'm all for it, to make everything consistent and fair (no more favoring the veterans and discriminating against the newcomers). You can see that many rookies know what the real strike zone is and then it's like they are playing a different game when they get to MLB umping.

High time for robo umps. If not, then next contract there has to be some built in accountability by MLB. 

1. Umps could do so much for themselves if they would just drop the egos and admit when they screwed up. To me, the most egregious thing about the Boone ejection was Wendelstedt telling him "You're probably right, but I don't care!" Just admit when you screw up and apologize, and players, coaches, and fans will all start to give you more grace when they see some humility and contrition. I'll never forget Jim Joyce and Armando Galaraga meeting at home plate the next day and Joyce nearly in tears. I gained a ton of respect for Joyce right there. 

2. We have the technology to get balls and strikes consistently right. There is no excuse to not use it.

3. I like the idea (I think it was DeGrom?) of official umpire evaluations being made public and at the end of the year the bottom 5% are relegated to AAA and the top AAA umps promoted.

ALL umpires and referees are bad!!! Time to get rid of them and go robotic/AI!!!

7 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

that stupid strike zone

Would you say the strike zone box is accurate on the inside and outside pitches? It's the top and bottom that need adjusting to the hitter? I think many of us on TD are okay when a call goes the wrong way if it's a borderline call. These MLB umps are professionals and miss some that are two ball widths off the plate. As a one time ump, I wanted to get the call right and would have gladly welcomed technology to fix my mistakes.

I umpired one year (9 and 10 year olds) and coached kids 5-15 year-olds for many years. At the level I umpired, the coaches were most of the problem. They usually teamed the adults with a teenager. Most of the coaches knew me from me coaching and maybe that skewed things. I would make a bad call and hear nothing. My teenage partner would make the right call and they would get on him, probably figuring they could get calls to go their way later. I would immediately stop and warn the coach. That stopped it right there. 

I loved coaching 9-12 year-olds, especially 11 and 12. 13-15 year-olds, no thanks, especially those on the travel team.

8 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

If I could get one thing out of this conversation it would be to remove that stupid box from the telecasts.  It is probably 90% of the reason we are in the position we are in.  It's not official in any way, not at all accurate but accurate enough so the fan thinks it means something, not standard by network and doesn't adjust from Altuve to Judge.  It's an F'in abomination.

I'm a working umpire, about 100 plate games a year, working mostly 12-14u travel ball.  I'm not trying to make a career, or even anything more than beer money doing it.  I have one of those super fancy suburban baseball complexs within walking distance and I love ball and working with the kids.  Last Sunday, I had to intervene after my partner tossed a dadfan and when I told him the game would not continue until he left the complex he told me he would be waiting for me in the parking lot.  (A true first for me) 

Five games later, behind the plate for a semifinal, I stone blew a tag at the plate.  During a comeback when they were down two.  I was in good position and I called what I saw.  I remember being stunned by how fast the ball came in from centerfield and while the catcher had to reach for the catch and swipe tag I had the throw making up the time and called out.  After reflection and discussion with my partner, I'm pretty sure I missed it, but not nearly by as much as the fans thought.  The accuracy of the throw and catcher motion made it look horrible, but I'm confident on replay most would say "whoa, much closer than I thought."  The fans were already on me as they had a pitcher that couldn't control his body language and they were not happy.  I don't think my pending parking lot date effected my performance, but I'm pretty sure the jeering in this game did.

As an aside, I'm sure all the parents out there always act out on whatever body language their kids exhibit, right?

The reality was that it was one bratty 14yo that hadn't been taught not to upstage an umpire.  I'm good with the zone I called for him, but if he disagrees on a pitch here or there fine-next pitch.  Honestly, I would have been perfectly justified to eject him, but I'm not here for an ump show either.

At this point, you must be thinking what the heck does any of this have to do with MLB umpiring?  For one, they are humans and are effected by the same things we all are.  I certainly agree that some need to go.  There are enough good umps working that the "not good" ones need cycled out.  We do have the tech to do that and it doesn't need to be public.

For another, I want everyone to look at that stupid strike zone box on your screen and think of it as a bratty 14yo that wants to cause trouble.  When the 14 yo gets worked up, the fans get worked up, when the fans get to feeling their oats they say things they don't mean and umpires get rattled and make bad calls.

When fans see an inaccurate measurement, they get worked up.   For the MLB strike zone, at least, MLB allowing an inaccurate representation of the zone has unnecessarily cost them credibility.   Everything else is downstream of that.

I like the umpire scorecard account as much, probably more, than anyone.  But if you can look at a scorecard for a game that Altuve and Judge both played in and say something about that umpires zone as displayed on a static square, I don't know what else to say.

I agree with you about the box on TV. It’s not the one umps are graded upon. Who knows what the umpire scorecard is using. If this is going to be shown it needs to be the one the umps are graded on. I believe the one they are graded on has a small buffer zone around the plate where either call is acceptable which is different than the box on TV. A week or so ago Angel had the plate for the Twins. According to the box on TV he did well - I only saw a couple misses during the 7 innings I watched. Another poster posted the umpire scorecard the next morning and it wasn’t very good. I think the other big change is that hitters will take borderline pitches with two strikes. The just about guarantees that someone is going to be mad. When hitters protected the plate with two strikes there were fewer of these situations. 

Another reason for electronic strike zone is now catcher are catchers are catching closer to the plate to get more strikes. Because of this Conteras broke his arm. If we have an electronic strike zone that won't happen & will prevent future injuries

This is the second year of Full ABS and the challenge system in AAA. Both versions work amazingly and either version would cure the issues that you reported as far as balls and strikes and instant correction.  Hope to see it in thr Bigs soon!!