I found this recent article today on the Computerized Automated K-Zone. The article imo, is poorly written, lacking details, and fails to expound on any and all questionable statements within the article. The blue italics notes/comments are my own... https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/m...robot-umpire-joe-west-computers-20190712.html Computers could soon call balls and strikes in MLB games instead of Joe West and other umpires | Bob Brookover July 12, 2019 Joe West, at 66 years old, knows he has reached the age where it is almost time for him to leave. He has spent a major-league-record 40 years as an umpire, working six World Series and three All-Star Games. He is hoping that the most prolific part of his profession remains intact even after he is gone, but it looks more possible than ever that computers could replace umpires behind home plate. The game seemingly took another step in that direction Wednesday night, when a computer program was used to call balls and strikes during the Atlantic League All-Star Game in York, Pa. You wouldn’t have noticed if it had not been announced because an umpire stood behind home plate making the calls, but only after they had been fed to him through a Bluetooth earpiece. This technology cannot be shaken off as some mad science experiment by an independent professional league, either. The Atlantic League has become a guinea pig for Major League Baseball and the Robo Ump is the latest test. It will continue to be funded by MLB and used during the second half of the Atlantic League season. No surprise, West is opposed to the idea of replacing umpires with computers. “If they’re trying to replace us, the problem is that the way they judge the pitches are done with algorithms and not actual perfected positions of the ball and home plate,” West said during a recent visit to Citizens Bank Park. I don't believe this paragraph above. If it's true the journalist needs to expound, cuz it doesn't make a lick of sense. Since it's Joe West making the claim, I believe it even less. Computerized Telemetry always uses a point of refernce to calibrate itself. That point of refernce is the Plate, and the batter's height. Telemetry such as CATIA is a real time system that is constantly making 100's of adjustments if necessary. Say the heighth of a player vs that of another, their batting stances differing. As well as any other deviation from the initial calibrations, in real time quicker than a human can adjust. The umpires are already graded by computers in what is called a ZE (zone efficiency) rating and West has no problem with using the tool in an attempt to help the umpires improve. He also believes the current technology is far from perfect. No Transparency either... “One of the things they’ve struggled with is it doesn’t call all the pitches and you can’t have a do-over because the machine missed it, especially when it’s a 3-2 count and the runners are on the move,” West said. This doesn't make a lick of sense; why can't the journalist expound??? The setup in the Atlantic League does seem to alleviate that problem. The home-plate umpire in the All-Star Game had the ability to overrule the computer if he saw what he thought was a mistaken call, which means he could also rule on a pitch if the computer failed to make a call. There shouldn't be any mistakes on the call, not with a system that measures to the .0001 (Ten thousandth of an inch). That, of course, could create all sorts of other problems, but it’s not difficult to visualize a future in Major League Baseball with computers calling balls and strikes. “I have seen this coming. It’s inevitable,” Atlantic League Umpire Derek Moccia told the Washington Post. “The game is changing. Baseball needs to speed up to keep up with the world. And if you want to be on board with this, you have to keep up. The game is bigger than you, bigger than any player.” It is bigger than any umpire, too, including Joe West. Still, Cowboy Joe makes some valid points. Joe West is incapable of making any valid points, other than to justify his job over a system he doesn't and probably cannot understand/comprehend. “We have the best officials in all of sport doing this,” West said. “The grades that I’m getting back and I’m seeing from the zone evaluation system are all over 95 percent and the average is at 97.5. The ones that are being missed are borderline, a little too high or a half inch off the plate. I mean, come on. Can you get any better than that? Yes, You can when you're using a system tighter than an Umpires asshole after a blown call. Of course Joe fkng West isn't going to agree with any system that puts him in the Unemployment Lines... “To say we’re going to discard all the umpires, that’s a big mistake and baseball knows that. They want us to get every pitch right and so do we. Believe me, these guys are striving for that. They look at their ZE scores and they check them and there are pitches the umpire will challenge the machine on and 20 to 30 percent are given back because the umpire is right. That's right, a human eye is calibrated to the ten thousandth of an inch and then some, yeah right. More Joe West talking out his ass... "This is a specialty profession and working home plate is probably the hardest thing to officiate and we’re at 97 percent. Pat them on the back. Don’t try to replace them.” Pat them on the back? Joe West needs a swift kick in the ass. I've never Umpired anything more than Senior League BB games, i.e. a League for High School Kids during the school Off-Season. I'd gladly see a Computerized Telemetry System used; than trying to make a call 100% correct all the time; which is 100% impossible. A small sampling of players agreed with West. Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins is not convinced that the box you see on your television screen is always right because it does not take into account plate dimension. If calibrated proper, the Automated System would take into account plate dimesions, and even a 3D level of the plate and field. “I hope I’m out of the game by the time they [use a computerized strike zone],” Hoskins said. Phillies reliever Adam Morgan is old-school on just about everything in baseball and that includes umpires calling strikes. “Umpires make mistakes and that’s part of the game,” Morgan said. “But catchers spend a lot of time learning how to frame a pitch and how to make a ball a strike and that’s all gone with an automated strike zone. Part of the game is the catcher and umpire talking to each other. Where do you have that pitch? Oh, it’s down.” All of that goes away with an automated umpire. “I like the old-school way of things,” Morgan said. “I just feel like it’s gone. Now it’s all about numbers and launch angles, and if you want a job you have to buy into it.”
This issue becomes endless, and makes one dizzy after awhile. I was kind of surprised to see this issue is further along that I thought, at least discussion wise; as well as some actual usage. Comments from many seem questionable... Feel free to add your own articles, and/or comments et al. More: from January 2018 https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/37347/robo-strike-zone-not-simple-think/ May 2019 https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26753650/robo-umps-not-fast-here-mlb-technology-upgrade-means May 2018 https://tht.fangraphs.com/an-exploration-of-mlb-umpires-strike-zones/ August of 2018 https://futurism.com/the-byte/electronic-strike-zone-baseball
Joe West is worried umps will lose jobs, it they won’t. How the Atlantic League is doing it is perfect. Home plate umpire gets the signal, makes the call. Still have an umpire at home, still calls balls and strikes but a computer is what is determining IF air is a ball and strike. Done.
