Quote:
Originally Posted by lawump
Mike Port has been quoted several times in several media stories that an umpire's zone evaluation (ZE) score (formerly QuesTec) will be changed on such a pitch. I have confirmed the same with several former colleagues who have advanced far beyond me to actually umpire MLB.
That is, ZE will initially mark the umpire as having "missed" the call because the curve ball passed through the zone. However, on such a pitch (where the ball ends up in the dirt, or the catcher has to significantly move his glove to catch it just above the dirt) in the post game analysis MLB evaluators will change the call from "missed" to "correct". This is done because almost no one (umpire, players, coaches, managers) expects that pitch to be a strike.
That is a FACT about ZE procedure...it is not opinion...that is what is done on a nearly daily basis.
So, maybe not all expected calls are quite the dinosaurs you think they are.
As I posted above, I do believe that many of the expected calls, especially on the bases (i.e. ball beat runner so call runner "out" if anything resembling a tag is made) have died due to expanded instant replay. But not all have died.
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And as I have posted, umpiring for ratings is something some HAVE to do. It is still sad, but I understand that some feel the need to ignore the rules for personal gratification. That is not a statement of superiority but rather acknowledgement of reality for some. If you find yourself umpiring at the MLB level, consider Mike Port's thoughts regarding QuesTec.
Most MLB guys are ridiculously consistent, QT park or not. The adjustiment you speak of is statistically irrelevant to their scores. You may have noticed that MLB has directed its umpires to make the correct call and not the expected one lately. They still want the correct call, Port merely affirmed that they will alter scores if such a pitch occurs and is called. The ZE system is not highly regarded within the WUA and that concession is wise, but almost useless, given that scores are really high already.