Atlantic League Expected To TEST ROBOT-UMPS, Other Changes From New MLB Agreement
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I’ve seen it discussed as a solution to strikeout rates/balls in play. Pitchers are throwing much harder than they ever have (and they’re taller/longer wingspans), so moving the mound back would make the amount of time from release to plate more like it used to be.
I’ll try to find a Ben Lindbergh article... he talks about it on Effectively Wild.
Edit: https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/5/11/17343716/how-to-fix-mlb-no-hitter-overload-move-mound-rhombus-field
Edit2: Ben in 2014
https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/23863/overthinking-it-the-other-way-we-could-move-the-mound/
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This will be interesting to follow. My guess has always been that robo umps will greatly favor the pitchers since it'll allow them to work up in the zone more for called strikes. Flesh umps call those strikes more now than back in the day for sure, but they still call many would be strikes balls.
I'll be curious to see what is considered a strike. When you get observe a K Zone on TV the ball is represented by an ellipse and the zone is a rectangle. Will it be consider a strike if any portion of the ellipse clips any portion of the rectangle? If so then a pitch up and away that barely clips the zone may be called a strike but for the batter would be a nearly impossible pitch to put into play. Hopefully the data is available online.
Good on the MLB for developing this partnership. I could see more guys making the leap from Independent ball to the MLB as a result.
I'll be curious to see what is considered a strike. When you get observe a K Zone on TV the ball is represented by an ellipse and the zone is a rectangle. Will it be consider a strike if any portion of the ellipse clips any portion of the rectangle? If so then a pitch up and away that barely clips the zone may be called a strike but for the batter would be a nearly impossible pitch to put into play. Hopefully the data is available online.
Good on the MLB for developing this partnership. I could see more guys making the leap from Independent ball to the MLB as a result.
^^SirPsychoSquints: Wouldn't lowering the height of the mound also be a way to overcome some of the pitcher's advantage? That was used after the 1968 season.
^CoffeeNerdness: The definition of a strike from Official Baseball Rules
A STRIKE is a legal pitch when so called by the umpire, which:
(b) Is not struck at, if any part of the ball passes through any part of the strike zone;
^CoffeeNerdness: The definition of a strike from Official Baseball Rules
A STRIKE is a legal pitch when so called by the umpire, which:
(b) Is not struck at, if any part of the ball passes through any part of the strike zone;
There's no mention in that article of how the robot-umping would be effectuated: will it be some sort of earpiece-based notification to a human ump standing there, or will the pitch's status just be automated reports / beeps / whatever as soon as it hits glove?
Lowering the mound impacts the angle but not the time to the plate. The 2nd article I linked discussed that lowering the mound didn't have a large impact on strikeouts, but more so on batting average (on contact, obviously). Moving the mound back has historically had a direct impact on strikeout rates.
Time to plate should be impacted since the mound allows pitchers to generate greater velocity than off flat ground.
The same BA writer has this article, also dated today:
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mound-move-may-not-benefit-hitters-at-all/
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mound-move-may-not-benefit-hitters-at-all/
According to the Globe, the foot mound move is a midseason plan. How the hell pitchers are supposed to adapt midseason is beyond me.
They also are moving 1B 3 inches closer to Home Plate !
They also are moving 1B 3 inches closer to Home Plate !
Seriously? Why such a trivial change? What about second and third base? If the diamond is also a square, they’ll have to be moved also to maintain the square.
I'd assume the midseason move would be so they could establish some control data from the first half of the season. Just comparing to last year might not be reliable information.
I have no idea why first base would move closer. If you were concerned with making pickoff throws the same angle as before, it would have to move back.
I figured the first base move was to increase offense. Or to test the theory that "at 90 feet there are so many close plays, maybe at 89 feet 9 inches there won't be so many"
They are making the bases 3 inches bigger, so presumably it’s related to that.
Right. The center of the base stays 90 feet away, but the bases are 3 inches bigger on each side. So, that means that the runner from home plate will contact first base 1-1/2 inches sooner than previously. The distance between 1st and 2nd bases and 2nd and 3rd shrinks by 3 inches.
Might make it a little easier to steal a base I guess.
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Moving the mound is just colossally stupid. It will benefit the hitters tremendously. They will get their timing down for the new distance long before pitchers reestabliah command of the corners of the zone.
The games will feature a sharp uptick in walks to go along with the extra hits. Take the over. That will make comparisons of the first couple months with the longer distance overpredictions of the amount of new offense generated.
The games will feature a sharp uptick in walks to go along with the extra hits. Take the over. That will make comparisons of the first couple months with the longer distance overpredictions of the amount of new offense generated.