It's time. It's past time. It's way past time.

The home plate umpire in the Reds/Astros game tonight has no clue where the strike zone is, and he can't even be reasonably consistent. Hitters and pitchers on both teams are completely confused.

I think they should try it in spring training. But will never happen due to the ump unions /thanksobama

And now that K-Zone is available for fans on every pitch, we're seeing just how many calls these elite umpires miss. It's a **** ton.

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MLB umps are about as good as it gets when it comes to sports officiating.

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Really hope not.

NHL officials are the best IMO.

How do you set the upper and lower limits of the strike zone, as they vary from player to player? The old questec system had to use a person to manually set the lines for each batter.

Have the current umps use a device to calibsrate to them as they come up to the plate.

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And now that K-Zone is available for fans on every pitch, we're seeing just how many calls these elite umpires miss. It's a **** ton.

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You're assuming that K-zone is accurate. The strike zone is a moving, shifting zone. Not side to side, but up and down. It varies batter to batter. Having to "calibrate" it for each batter would be a beating.

I'm not ignoring those facts at all. I understand how the strike zone changes batter to batter. All the more reason to call it electronically. Thankfully, someone smarter than me would be the one to figure it out. And yes, at some point after sufficient testing, I'd assume it was accurate just like any other piece of technology we've learned to accept.

Yeah, above my pay grade too to come up with that system. But heck, if a batter bends his knees mid pitch that could change shift the zone, right?

Incorporate some kind of a marker into the uniforms. Maybe a magnetic strip or RFID to mark the upper and lower borders of the particular batter's strike zone. The inside and outside of the plate would be fixed.

If they can detect the attempted shoplifting of small items going out the door at Walmart then surely they can detect a strike zone

I don't think putting something in a batter's jersey would work because 1) hitters don't stay level when they swing and 2) they could just duck, dip, etc... to shrink the strike zone.

During Spring Training, capture and map all hitters strike zones and use them during the season. Give the players the ability to remap their strike zone during the season if they feel it is inaccurate, or make major changes to their stance.

They tried it at the minor league level

The top of the strike zone (and the bottom, to a lesser extent) is just so variable. I just don't see how the technology is there to do it.

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During Spring Training, capture and map all hitters strike zones and use them during the season. Give the players the ability to remap their strike zone during the season if they feel it is inaccurate, or make major changes to their stance.

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This.

I was thinking that they could monitor the umpires during the game and use the results for private in-house evaluation purposes. Look at their accuracy in day games vs night, ballpark A vs B vs C..., lefties vs righties, etc. etc. I mean it's baseball so you could have any number of metrics. Let the most accurate umps call the playoffs and WS games. If there are weak umpires calling below some agreed to standard then put them at another position and don't let them call the plate. Or send them down to the minors to get their stuff straight. You could even map their calls before the season starts to qualify them for the regular season.

The one thing that I would absolutely HATE to see happen would be to replace the umps altogether. They're a part of what makes the game great. Replacing an ump with an electronic device would be along the lines of replacing pitchers with a pitching machine, IMO.

Without umps, who would call a play at the plate, or any calls at any base. How about a pickoff play. The game needs human officiating, but with instant replay.

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Without umps, who would call a play at the plate, or any calls at any base. How about a pickoff play. The game needs human officiating, but with instant replay.

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You could still have an umpire at the plate he just wouldn't call balls and strikes.

I don't think the player's stance should have anything to do with the strike zone. The player's height should be all that matters.

Also, if there are ~250 pitches in an average game, I would say on average that they only miss about 1 - 2 obvious strikes, and they only call 2 - 3 obvious balls as strikes. The MLB umpires are pretty amazing for the most part. The other day I was watching the NCAA game on my tablet with the MLB game behind it on my TV. Every time I looked up I had to re-calibrate my brain to the MLB zone ("Remember, brain, this is MLB - the ball has to actually be over the plate to get called.")

I think the biggest use of the electronic strike zone could be scouting. I think a lot of amateur pitchers make a living throwing the ball 2 -3 inches off the plate, effectively working with a 29" plate (17 + 5 extra + 7 (2 ball diameters)). In the big leagues the plate is only 24" wide, and if you can't pitch in that zone, you're done (unless you're Greg Maddux).

So do you call the game if there is a power outage with the equipment?

Umpires and referees are an antiquated method of officiating sporting contests from a pure efficiency point of view.

I freely recognize that it would take a lot of the fun out of an event. Without umps or refs, who would we gripe to when our team doesn't do well?

On the flip side, I think it would lessen crap calls in other sports.

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Also, if there are ~250 pitches in an average game, I would say on average that they only miss about 1 - 2 obvious strikes, and they only call 2 - 3 obvious balls as strikes.

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If the K-Zone is accurate (and again, we're assuming that it is, but who knows?), I think those numbers are low. It seems to be worse than usual this year, but I'd say the number is closer to 15 per game. Still great percentage-wise, but unacceptable when there could be a better option out there. The timing of the bad calls is obviously the most crucial part of the equation. If we have the means to correct it, I'm all for trying it out.

Managers should get one ball/strike challenge a game. That way if you get a crucial ball/strike wrong it can be corrected.

What if they're correct? Would they be out of challenges?

I'm against a challenge system for balls and strikes. Either figure out how to use the technology on every pitch, or don't use it at all.

Every player's physical data and stance is entered into a database. Pinch hitters, etc., would already be in the database. The technology works pretty well in pro tennis.

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I don't think the player's stance should have anything to do with the strike zone. The player's height should be all that matters.

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The strike zone is defined by the natural stance of the batter.

If you want to change how strikes are called just utilize the 2nd base umpire. From his position he watches every pitch and can easily see the height and width.

Have a buzzer or other communications device with the plate umpire

You want an umpire who is 90+ feet away from home plate to call balls and strikes?

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You want an umpire who is 90+ feet away from home plate to call balls and strikes?

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No but to provide support to the plate umpire.

When I'm the field umpire in the B and C positions I can see the strike zone clearly and could provide support to the plate umpire on close pitches .

Just spitballing here (pun semi-intended), so feel free to tear this apart, but I wonder if there has ever been any consideration of having umpires that were strictly home plate umpires, kind of like football has referees, umpires, back judges, etc. If any position on the diamond would need a specific skill set, it seems like calling balls and strikes would be it..

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Just spitballing here (pun semi-intended), so feel free to tear this apart, but I wonder if there has ever been any consideration of having umpires that were strictly home plate umpires, kind of like football has referees, umpires, back judges, etc. If any position on the diamond would need a specific skill set, it seems like calling balls and strikes would be it..

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Baseball is 162 games and it would not be beneficial to have one guy work the plate for the season.