Beginning of the End for Plate Umpires?

[lawump]

http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post/_/id/16805/olney-baseball-keeps-getting-slower-but-change-will-come-by-2018

[zoops]

I have my doubts about an electronic strike zone speeding up the game, but really with all the replay even base umpires are hardly needed.  Anything that isn't obvious is reviewed anyways (or could be), but they'd have to come up with a system that doesn't slow the game down terribly.  

[Mister B]

Computers and technology rarely speed anything up, they just add layers of complexity. Now instead of a bang-bang call at first, we'll have 6 guys analyzing it for 3 minutes. The human brain is pretty remarkable and you can't forget that the PU isn't just calling balls and strikes, there are a ton of judgement calls that somebody is going to need to make. 

Then just imagine the crap storm that happens when they find out somebody tampered with the strikezone. 

[conbo61]

Great, now I will have to worry about all of those out of work MLB guys coming down and sucking up all of my JV and Junior Legion assignments...

[MidAmUmp]

So is the proposal to stick a guy back there and rule on everything other than balls and strikes? How else will fair/foul, plays at the plate, catcher's interference, batter's interference, etc. be called???

[Cav]

Someday, player contracts will include negotiations on each individual batter's strike zone dimensions:  Rookies get the rulebook; someone with <5 years seniority gets an inch up and two balls above the belt; someone with <10 years seniority gets mid-thigh, belt high and one ball diameter in from both sides; and, someone with >10 years seniority gets to call where he wants each pitch...oh, wait, we already tried that back in the day.  

 

[conbo61]

1 hour ago, MidAmUmp said:

So is the proposal to stick a guy back there and rule on everything other than balls and strikes? How else will fair/foul, plays at the plate, catcher's interference, batter's interference, etc. be called???

Correct.  HBO Real Sports did a story on this proposal with Eric Byrnes last September.  Episode No. 234

[Sut'n Blue]

 

I don't think an electronic strike zone would work unless they change the definition of the top and bottom of the zone to a specific height. For example, a strike is a pitch that crosses the plate between 18 and 42 inches above the plate. This way the zone is exactly the same no matter what and the machine wouldn't have to adjust for each batter.