Upon Further Review: Baseball should stay low-tech
The National Football League has the instant replay cameras, the NBA has tape review and even hockey allows the referees to check the tape on a questionable score.
Now America’s game baseball has the Ques Tec system. Yes baseball the pure and simple game has gone high-Tec.
As controversy has brewed over the past several years around the strike zone, baseball felt the need to insure that all strike zones are the same. So that’s were the UIS (Umpire Information System) comes in.
The UIS uses Ques Tec’s proprietary measurement technology that analyzes video from cameras mounted in the rafters of each ballpark to precisely locate the ball throughout the pitch corridor.
The information is then used to measure the speed, placement, and curvature of the pitch along its entire path. Additional cameras are mounted at the field level to measure the strike zone for each individual batter, for each individual pitch and for each at bat. The information is compiled on a disk and given to the home plate umpire after each game. The umpires are to use the information to evaluate their consistency behind the plate.
Now that we have gotten all the technical mumble-jumble out of the way lets see if we can understand how this will help the game of baseball.
So far it looks as if the machine has actually brought a little extra excitement to the game. Now instead of pitchers hitting batters with the ball and a brawl breaks out. Several pitchers have already attacked the Ques Tec Umpire System.
Fans got to see Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks smashed one of the cameras used in the Ques Tec system last Saturday night. Schilling who like many major league pitchers uses his control to spot the pitch on the outside or inside part of the plate in order to be effective in the major leagues. But with the cameras on, the umpires have shrunk the strike zone in order to stay within the boundaries of the system.
This is what has not only pitchers up set but major league umpires too. The system was put into place to basically evaluate the umpires. Major League Baseball has set a standard for the system and umpires who do not match with the Questec at least 90 percent of the time will be judged as not meeting standards.
Are walks up from last year? Yes, in 2001 the walk per game average 6.81 and this year as of May walks are up to 7.03 per game. Managers and players simply feel that pitches that used to be called strikes are now being called balls due to the pressure on the umpires by the Ques Tec System.
Part of the beauty of the game has always been the ability of a pitcher to pick away at the corners. But now its throw the ball down the middle and see how far you can hit it.
Players, managers and umpires have argued about balls and strikes ever since the game has been played, its part of the game. Who doesn’t love to see a manager get the old heave-ho and thrown out of a game every now and then.
There’s no doubt that some of the games character and charm will be lost. Hi-Tec just doesn’t belong in baseball. The Ques Tec company has a five year agreement with MLB but a few more busted cameras could bring this unwanted technology to a quick end. After all what’s stopping a pitcher from breaking a few cameras before the game starts. He can tell the home plate umpire before the game that the cameras are busted and everyone would be happy.