UPMIRE INTERACTION
Umpires Are Only Human
by: Staff
You watch a game on t.v and then they show the superimposed strike box and it shows the pitch was a ball yet the ump called a strike. These are the MLB umps - the "cream-of-the -crop". So if they are the top umps, what do you think you get
in summer ball, high school or even college?
moving too quickly, because I want to help you out.'" It's important for catchers to feel as if every pitch is on display, even in the bullpen or during practice. "They should get the feeling all the time that they're trying to sell that pitch," [Ed] Cheff says. "I want my catchers to have the mentality that, 'There's always an umpire behind me and this guy is going to make a call on this pitch and I'm trying to make it easy for him.' A lot of catchers are sloppy with this in drills and in the bullpen. Then they try to clean it up when they get in the game, and they can't."
13
Umpires are like everyone else - human and will make mistakes. They will have some bias from time-to-time. In some cases not really knowing it. One example is from an article by John Walsh in The Hardball Times called The Compassionate Umpire were they were discussing the strike zone discrepancy during certain counts like 0-2 vs. 3-0. They provided the graphics below:
Horizonal position (ft. catchers view)
Horizonal position (ft. catchers view)
Vertical position (ft.)
Vertical position (ft.)
As most already guessed, the strike zone gets bigger on a 3-0 count and smaller on a 0-2 count. So there is a bias (making the strike zone bigger) to help the pitcher in a 3-0 count and a bias to help the batter (making the strike zone smaller) in a 0-2 count. The 3-0 strike zone is 50% larger than the 0-2 strike zone.
The information was taken from MLB umpire calls - again the highest level of umpiring. So why do rec, summer and high school expect perfection? Granted there are some umpires in the "lower" levels that are really as good as MLB umps but they are few and far between. Most have regular jobs and work games on the weekend or when they can. It isn't their every day job.
Far too many coaches at all levels below the professional ranks feel that every