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Originally Posted by Jim Porter
Do you realize you've made these comments to an employee of Major League Baseball? I watch games for a living. It's my job to pay attention to every pitch. It's my job to work closely with broadcast teams. It's my job to scrutinize every pitch and compare each location around the strike zone to what the PU is calling.
All I can say is the proof of what you say cannot be found in the pudding. MLU's are still calling individual strike zones. They're still rewarding pitchers. Phantom tags and neighborhood plays are still being called regularly. I know because I see it everyday.
And broadcasters have various ways of dealing with it in replays. Some of them don't mention a neighborhood or phantom tag play even when it's obvious in replays. Others, particularly former players, will sometimes mention the unwritten rules. I've yet to hear a broadcaster belly-ache over and scrutinize neighborhood play or phantom tag play. It's become an accepted part of the game.
Umpiring the game has indeed changed in the last few years, however. It just hasn't changed in regards to phantom tags, neighborhood plays, and strike zone management. Instead, crews these days are much more willing to meet and overturn a decision than they used to be in years past -- and even then, only under certain circumstances.
Ques-Tec has been useless because it's installed in so few ballparks. In some of those ballparks where it's installed it no longer works, so it's used in even fewer ballparks than originally planned. There are sweeping changes in the works that may very likely change all of that, but not until the Ques-Tec contract runs out at the end of this season.
But all of this is really beside the point, isn't it? None of us umpire games with multiple camera angles and super slow-mo instant replays, do we? So the old MLU techniques should still work well for us. Right?
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Are you an employee or an independent contracter? --- Just joking
I can't argue with you have stated (in this thread and others) in terms of what you have seen operating Pitch tracking devices. I do not have the resources to compile stats or otherwise.
However, I stand by what I was told over dinner by my "mentor". Nothing more nothing less. I don't believe him in the least to be a liar. I believe him when he tells me that he (and his brotheren) require an actual tag to be applied in order to call an "out". (I stated in my prior post that the phantom force at second on the front end of a double play is alive and well.) I believe him when he talked about the desire not to be crucified by a non-understanding media. Of course, human error, by umpires, is still alive and well.
Also, I disagree that strike zone management hasn't changed. I spent time on the phone yesterday afternoon with a AAA reserve umpire talking to him about a recent MLB plate job he had. I can assure you he enters a Ques-Tec game with a much different mentality than the one he had when he and I were in the low minors together...or even a AAA game. We have talked several times since he did his first Ques-tec game in the Arizona Fall League about how he has had to relearn (or adjust) his strike zone.
Again, you have numbers. I only have conversations with mentors and friends.
Maybe some umpires believe they are changing...but do the numbers show otherwise? Again, I don't have the time or resources to do a study. I can only state as fact what was TOLD to me.
I don't know how many MLB umps you know...it could be more than me! But I stand by these conversations.
In the long run, does this matter to us mere amateurs...not yet. As I stated above...I agree with what you were posting.