I wonder how expertly calibrated the college ABS is versus MLB. There was one challenge yesterday that ended up being overturned as it was way off the plate that did not look like it do my naked eye.

The college ABS configs are bigger than MLB. I'd bet you almost anything that the exact same pitch would Nick the expanded zone and be a strike under this system.

dermdoc said:

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Warsteiner said:

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dermdoc said:

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The blue who took the bat out of Gavin's hands vs Auburn. Please let him be behind the plate tomorrow. With ABS this time.
BTHO Auburn!

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Didn't you hear? K. Rogers said it was in the zone

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Hearing is not believing. I had a great view. It was not a strike.
BTHO Auburn!

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I agree with you

Luke The Drifter said:

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During one of the games yesterday, the SEC Network did a feature on the players getting measured for their individual strike zones. This is more effort than I thought the SEC would put into it and I'm glad to know they didn't go with a cookie cutter strike zone that's the same for every batter.

And the college strike zone has to be bigger than the MLB zone. Otherwise, we'd have 6-hour games with 20 walks per team. Even the best college pitchers don't have the kind of pinpoint control as MLB pitchers. With each higher level of baseball, the strike zone gets smaller and smaller...and thank goodness it does. Baseball would be unwatchable otherwise.

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This is exactly what I've said, so I agree with you completely. I like the 'buffer' in the college ABS. If I were an ump I'd hate it because I'd call something a ball, by the rulebook it's a ball, but it gets overturned to a strike.

They include the "buffer" as part of the umpire grading. They should include it as part of the rule.

Agreed on having a buffer. Wish the strike zone they were using in the SEC tournament was a little tighter but included a buffer out to the limits they are using now. If the ball is in the buffer then call stands and maybe you don't lose your challenge.

This is what I've been saying all week -- buffer is absolutely needed, but the call should stand either way if in the buffer zone.

I would love if they would go full robo ump and every pitch is called by ABS to be able to make everything black and white.

The reality is that as long as humans are calling balls and strikes, there will be errors and the challenge system is supposed to catch the egregious errors. We have always had an acceptable margin of error and as long as the ump was consistent within their margin of error, we could live with it. The SEC basically built in a margin of error by making the strike zone so large, especially width and height. Now a hitter and umpire get punished for correctly identifying that a ball is 0.99" off the plate but the catcher challenged it. If you have the buffer, it accounts for acceptable margin or error without punishing anyone and the challenge will fix the egregious errors.

dermdoc said:

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Lady Aravis said:

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This is what I've been saying all week -- buffer is absolutely needed, but the call should stand either way if in the buffer zone.

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Totally disagree. It is either a ball or a strike.

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100% agree

It is or it isn't

eeaggie11 said:

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I would love if they would go full robo ump and every pitch is called by ABS to be able to make everything black and white.

The reality is that as long as humans are calling balls and strikes, there will be errors and the challenge system is supposed to catch the egregious errors. We have always had an acceptable margin of error and as long as the ump was consistent within their margin of error, we could live with it. The SEC basically built in a margin of error by making the strike zone so large, especially width and height. Now a hitter and umpire get punished for correctly identifying that a ball is 0.99" off the plate but the catcher challenged it. If you have the buffer, it accounts for acceptable margin or error without punishing anyone and the challenge will fix the egregious errors.

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Then you will need a buffer for the buffer. Then another buffer, etc. This isn't hard. Set parameters and enforce them.
BTHO Auburn!

Maybe I'm missing the point, but I believe the buffer is already build in to the ABS system, thus allowing for the larger strike zone. As long as it's called consistently, I really don't care what the zone is. College umps are part time employees, so I don't expect them to have the skills of an MLB ump. But what I do expect is consistency…which is where, I believe, guys like Mattingly, Jeff Head, etc. fall woefully short.

Luke The Drifter said:

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Maybe I'm missing the point, but I believe the buffer is already build in to the ABS system, thus allowing for the larger strike zone. As long as it's called consistently, I really don't care what the zone is. College umps are part time employees, so I don't expect them to have the skills of an MLB ump. But what I do expect is consistency…which is where, I believe, guys like Mattingly, Jeff Head, etc. fall woefully short.

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You're not missing anything. The buffer IS built into ABS. But the buffer/ABS strike zone doesn't match the strike zone in the rule book.

I believe that the college strike zone should equal the current strike zone + that buffer. I.e, it should be bigger than the MLB strike zone.