K-Zone, I think I love you
Posted on 21. Jun, 2010 at 2:00 am by Meerkat in Baseball, MLB Baseball
Yeah, I’m a stumbling-mumbling-glassy-eyed Joe Namath and ESPN’s K-Zone is the squeamish Suzy Kolber in this weird scenario (and I know Namath said “I wanna kiss you”, just couldn’t go there, don’t know why). But this is no late-night flirtation after a beer-of-the-night pitcher or two. No. I adore the K-Zone! It’s like the girl-next-door that washes her car every Sunday from April-September in her skimpiest house dress while I’m digging a ditch by the side of the road.
Alright, maybe I creatively stretched the exaggeration a bit there.
(and you might need an ice cold glass of tea to cool down if you watched that whole video)
Okay, in all seriousness, it’s about time MLB took a big leap with technology to help out the game. And I’m saying we introduce K-Zone for each and every MLB game officially calling balls and strikes. Hell, if the ATP (tennis) can do it with Cyclops during serves, why can’t MLB do it with the strike zone?
I know, I know, the umpires are a part of the fabric of this great American past-time, yadda, yadda. And I myself lean towards the purism of the game (i hate the DH!). Plus, everybody loves the ump with the dramatic 3rd strike-ur-out call.
But, in my sometimes demented head, I believe the game needs some speeding up and more efficiency. And I firmly believe this change can help … almost seamlessly.
Let’s do some breaking down on how this will improve the game, shall we?
- The standard textbook strike-zone set for each player’s build, no more hitters umps, no more pitchers umps
- No more hitters looking back at the ump asking … “where was that?”, leading to less hitters stepping out of the box smirking at dicey calls
- No more managers running out to back up their player for arguing and possibly getting tossed for calls
- No more pitchers getting disgusted about not getting that outside corner call or inside corner as well
- No more catchers framing pitches to coax the ump into a strike
- Less instant replays showing the ump that completely blew a call
- A few less pitcher conferences due to inconsistent strike zones
Just a second! I did not explain how everyone at the ballpark would know a ball/strike call with K-Zone. A few possible scenarios:
- the ump has an earpiece that the computer uses to relay the call to him, so the ump can do what he usually does (the best option)
- an audio system is setup, one sound signifies strike, another ball
- a visual system is setup
- both audio and visual
- a smoking hot chick holds up a sign
All reasonable stuff right? Just agree with me, it’s so much easier.
Now I have no idea how many minutes saved all these changes could all add up to … so I’m lookin at you scientists!
(all of a sudden i’m thirsty for a coke zero)
How will things stay the same in this new K-Zone world of mine? Well, umps will still be needed behind the plate for certain duties.
- Still need a guy there to judge foul tips
- Still need him to call safe/out for plays at home plate
- Still need him to call hit batsmen
- Still need that dude to call some controversial balks
- And he can still be the guy to do lineups and such
- oh, there is that disaster scenario -the computer crashes- dude can call balls/strikes again, woo-hoo
Convinced yet? You should be, I mean this is genius. Maybe now is a good time to forward this link to the MLB Commish’s office so I can get recruited LeBron style to be an idea-man for the league office … it could happen … I’ll be staring at my inbox for the inevitable reply from Selig himself.
(fiddling of thumbs)
bbryan
21. Jun, 2010
I’m convinced.
/sincere
3d
21. Jun, 2010
I won’t even get into the “keeping the sanctity of the game” argument, which I am for.
How would you actually administer the strike zone rule? The strike zone changes for every single hitter. It’s suppose to be called according to a reasonably normal batting stance. If every player was built exactly the same then I’d start buying the argument that since tennis can do it, then baseball can. But the service, side, and baselines don’t move or ever change. Somebody would have to be in charge of manipulating the K zone for the high and low strike for every batter, which is exactly what an umpire does anyway.
Meerkat
21. Jun, 2010
A batter’s strike zone can be recorded each year during spring training. Batter can stand in the batter’s box while k-zone computer & geeks gather all the relevant data to be fed into a database. Now each time that batter comes up to bat, his unique k-zone is loaded up.
Or maybe a batter can ask that the k-zone be dynamic because the batter changes his stance often. K-zone can lock in differently for each AB.
Bottom line is, there won’t be balls called strike that are outside the black, nor balls called strike that are 2 inches above the dirt. And vise versa. Gone will be the outrageous strike zones that umps make up to be unique.
3D
21. Jun, 2010
A) If it’s the perfect solution, why does the picture you loaded up have the K zone not hovering over the outside black?
B) Will the guys who get brought up after spring training be flown back to Arizona or Florida for each of their ‘special k zone’?
C) Whose outrageous strike zone? I think I’ve watched plenty of games to know that big league umps have the tightest zone compared to any level of baseball. If anything, the zone needs to be expanded. If you’re stuck in the 90s when Maddux and Glavine were making a living 4 inches off the plate carving up the Phil’s and Co., I’d agree. But that doesn’t happen anymore.
D) All the other points you made as to why umpires are still needed don’t actually show why they’re still needed. Computers and replay could be used to see if a batter was hit, if a ball was tipped, if a guy was safe or out, etc… Balls and strikes are called better than good in the MLB. If you just want away with umpires in general, that’s all you had to say.
Please don’t come back with how long it would make the game to call 10 safe/out calls and 5 foul tips per game when you’re suggesting a reply/computer makes 300 ball/strike calls.
Meerkat
21. Jun, 2010
A) If it’s the perfect solution, why does the picture you loaded up have the K zone not hovering over the outside black? let’s not read too much into a picture that might be off angle
B) Will the guys who get brought up after spring training be flown back to Arizona or Florida for each of their ’special k zone’? k-zone could be setup to be dynamic, changing to each batters stance for each at bat, the technology is there … i was merely suggesting an option for a batter that desired a static personal k-zone for the entire season
C) Whose outrageous strike zone? I think I’ve watched plenty of games to know that big league umps have the tightest zone compared to any level of baseball. If anything, the zone needs to be expanded. If you’re stuck in the 90s when Maddux and Glavine were making a living 4 inches off the plate carving up the Phil’s and Co., I’d agree. But that doesn’t happen anymore. just trying to point out that consistency is what really matters … maybe ‘outrageous’ was pushing it, but can you at least admit there are pitchers umps and hitters umps?
D) All the other points you made as to why umpires are still needed don’t actually show why they’re still needed. Computers and replay could be used to see if a batter was hit, if a ball was tipped, if a guy was safe or out, etc… Balls and strikes are called better than good in the MLB. If you just want away with umpires in general, that’s all you had to say. umps would still be needed for those other calls for immediacy … i don’t want instant replay ruling on every play, that does not make games more efficient and certainly not quicker. a runner on 2b can’t wait for instant replay to decide if he should run or not, that is why the ump is needed.
The point of this post was to merely take away ball/strike calls from home plate umpires, not strip away home plate umpires. Also I was just suggesting a better product at the major league level because they can afford it. Obviously, this cannot be done in the minors, ncaa, and lower because of expense. But that shouldn’t be an issue because aluminum bats are used in all levels of baseball via expense except mlb.
Are you opposed of the cyclops in ATP?
Are you opposed of NFL QBs communicating with coaches via their helmet headsets?
Tell me how this change would be ‘bad’ for the game? Besides, it’s tradition.
Jake
21. Jun, 2010
What a retarded idea.
bbryan
21. Jun, 2010
Is Spencer Butt middle school conducting a class on commenting on sports blogs? Nothing but a bunch of middle-school type comments lately. Brutal.
Jake
21. Jun, 2010
bbryan:
It’s funny you said that. As I figured the person that wrote this post was a middle school kid. Dumb ideas get dumb responses, fact.
Meerkat
21. Jun, 2010
Retarded idea?
Funny how technology is embraced everywhere else … like the cell phone with GPS and camera … gigantic LED flat screen TVs … Facebook … Twitter … but an easy change to a game that could use it … ‘retarded’.
middle school kid > “transistor radio” Jake
3D
21. Jun, 2010
Just for clarification we know the cyclops and instant replay in tennis are two different entities, right? Cyclops judges the service line and whether the serve hits the let cord…
Yes I do like the cyclops and the serve is way different in tennis. For one, the ball is being hit 30-50 mphs faster and travels a shorter distance to the spot where the call needs to be made. Also, the umpire in baseball has a perfect look at a pitch, and no umpire or line judge has that look in tennis. They stand 30 feet from the call or sit in a chair well above the call. The serve calls are way harder to judge in tennis and were missed consistently enough to warrant the cyclops’ implementation – I’m not sure it’s a similar comparison to balls and strikes.
Another reason the cyclops works in tennis is that the crowd has to be quiet and when the cyclops goes off, the players know immediately and can stop play. If computers or a k zone is to be used, where is this thing going to be put? How are they going to hear or see it? Are players going to be looking at a jumbo tron after every single pitch to see what the call was?
Implementing a k zone to call balls and strikes is not a bad idea, I think it’s not necessary. Umpires are part of the game and they get the call right pretty much every time. If this is the direction we’re heading in sports, then let’s make a computer model available on every foul call in basketball so officials can actually know if contact was made. Or let’s put sensors on the sidelines so we truly know if the ball hit the line, or if a player stepped out, down to the micrometer. In football we could use a computer model to spot the ball, down to the micrometer, instead of relying on side judges who spot the ball from 25 yards away. In these basketball and football cases, where the ball, knees, feet are, etc.. are just as cut and dry as where the ball crosses the plate.
Maybe this is where sports is headed in the future and it wouldn’t be BAD for the game, but let’s not single out balls and strikes when this kind of adjustment could be made in every single sport, no questions asked.
bbryan
21. Jun, 2010
Football will be putting a chip in the ball sooner than later, if at least to judge whether the ball crossed the goal line or not. Basketball would be the hardest to implement any of this kind of technology too outside of whether the ball hit the rim for a fresh 24 or ball touching the out of bounds line.
I’m all for advancements through technology though.
Meerkat
21. Jun, 2010
3D, I already said how it could be used …
the ump has an earpiece that the computer uses to relay the call to him, so the ump can do what he usually does (the best option)
It would appear as if the ump is judging balls/strikes himself.
Sure, in the future, all those other ideas you present in football & hoops could happen someday. But the technology isn’t there yet or needed or affordable.
K-Zone is used every Sunday by ESPN and can easily be implemented into games now. All the ump needs is an earpiece. Then we get the right call with every pitch with every game.
El Rey
21. Jun, 2010
K-Zone is probably worse at calling balls/strikes than the umps are. The camera is at an angle, so it’s hard to judge if it’s even correct most of the time. Earlier this year I was driving listening to a Sunday Night game, and Jon Sciambi was talking about how generally worthless K-Zone is (though, being that it’s a ESPN thing, he was trying to be delicate about it) and no one in baseball thinks much of it.
I say we just take an idea from Fox and have Scooter call balls and strikes.
3D
21. Jun, 2010
Technology isn’t there and it’s not affordable for the multi quadrillion dollar NFL but the MLB can make and implement over 1000 unique K Zones?
Meerkat
21. Jun, 2010
You could have 1 million unique K-Zones, they all could be loaded into an iPad or excel, that is no big deal at all … it’s just data. Maybe there is an app for that?
Until the NFL or NBA or TV networks develop such cool things like a micro-chip-football or avatar-like-foul-calling (for nba) or laser-beam-goal-line marking … I’ll stick with, or argue for, what is available now.
bbryan
21. Jun, 2010
Technology and affordability are there for the NFL, it’s just a slow moving process. But I would except that the NFL implements chips in the balls before the MLB implements automated strike zones.
goodplaye
21. Jun, 2010
i’m with King, that k zone isn’t accurate at all. i kinda agree with most of you that when the technology is right it should be used. don’t think we have good enough tech yet though.
Meerkat
21. Jun, 2010
Joe Morgan:
That quote was from 2003, I’m sure the tech is even better now.
Stake
22. Jun, 2010
K-zone or any other technology to call balls and strikes, shouldn’t and wont ever be implemented. LIke D mentions, comparing it to tennis is apples to oranges. Players will still argue the calls.
El Rey
22. Jun, 2010
Quoting Joe Morgan to support your cause is always risky.
http://deadspin.com/5299503/joe-morgan-clarifies-one-fib-possibly-tells-another
bbryan
22. Jun, 2010
Extremely risky. There’s a reason that http://www.firejoemorgan.com was so popular while it was up and running.
Meerkat
22. Jun, 2010
And maybe i am still a little burned by Tom Glavine always getting the outside corner … when it wasn’t a strike.