Automated ball-strike challenge in 2025 spring training: NO! Eliminate barbaric catching position and plate umpire!

How many fans want their child, grandchild, ... to play catcher or even be a plate umpire? Why not? Then why is it OK for anyone to be subjected to the unnecessary physical abuse of those activities?

Spring games to feature automated ball-strike challenge system by Jesse Rogers Feb 18, 2025

The league believes a challenge system would be less disruptive while retaining the human elements of the game, including pitch framing by catchers.

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This article reads like an inept joke. Yeah, who doesn't go to the ballpark to see live pitch framing?

Hello, ALL pitches are currently called by automation and have been for years. We see it on television but not at the ballpark. We tend to side with the automation over the plate umpire almost all the time, partly because the strike zone is such a ridiculous imaginary concept. We cannot touch it. It touches nothing. It varies with each batter but only vertically, not horizontally.

Finally, both the catching position and plate umpire should be eliminated because both are barbaric and obviously unnecessary. Both could stand behind a protective screen behind the plate.

Or the entire mess could have been something simple and non automated for more than a century. Put a physical target back there. Hit it for a strike, you know, like stick ball played against a concrete wall with a rectangle drawn on it. Try an archery bull's eye on a tripod.

The metaphor for the catcher is backstop. A human being is playing a physical barrier. The catcher wears the "tools of ignorance".

Both the catcher and plate umpire have been needlessly getting pounded in the head and that pounding has increased with the velocity of the pitches.

Worst of all, even if all the pitches were called by machine, many fans want the catcher and plate umpire to remain in their current positions so that it looks the same.

Eliminating the barbaric catcher position has many benefits including eliminating embarrassingly stupid finger signs. Thursday, September 7, 2017

Imaginary strike zone. Saturday, August 8, 2009

There are no physical limits to the strike zone. It is an imaginary three dimensional area hovering above ground. To make it even more elusive, it's size varies with each batter.

The pitcher imagines its location, then throws and hopes to place the ball within it. The batter imagines where it might be and swings through that area. Finally, the plate umpire imagines whether a baseball traveling over ninety miles per hour and moving erratically has passed through any part of it or possibly grazed the edge of it.

Pretty stupid. Especially when it's totally unnecessary. Just place an object behind home plate as a target and judge whether or not a pitch has hit it. Jeez, is that so complicated? Try an archery bull's eye on a tripod. Aside from being a fool proof strike zone, it allows those two most pathetic human beings, the catcher and plate umpire, to move out of harm's way ...

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Pitchers need to wear catcher's gear. They are helpless on line drives over the mound.

Yankee pitcher Anthony Misiewicz is the latest victim, hit in the head so hard that the ball flew into right field. Here's the batter who hit it:

Ji Hwan Bae 5', 11" 185 pounds; career: 2 Home Runs in 335 At Bats

Friday, September 15, 2023

Start Time: 6:35 p.m. Local

Attendance: 31,534

Venue: PNC Park

Game Duration: 3:15

Night Game, on grass

Yankees 7, Pirates 5

See video: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Anthony+Misiewicz

The ball was hit more than 100 Miles Per Hour (MPH).

Pitchers, like Bryan Mitchell, are at the mercy of line drives. What are you willing to do about it? Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Bryan Mitchell was hit in the face last night while pitching at Yankee Stadium.

Mitchell had no time to defend himself.

Mitchell was on the mound when a line drive smashed into him. He was assisted off the field with a towel pressed over his face to stop the bleeding...

Everyone should wear catcher's gear. Saturday, July 5, 2008 ...

Getting hit with the ball. Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda suffered a concussion when he was hit in the head by a line drive. The 34-year-old Kuroda was not wearing a helmet. The ball blasted off Kuroda's head into the seats behind first base.

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Why do you oppose safety for the players? Wednesday, July 23, 2014

You say you do but you really don't...

I can remember when hockey goalies did not wear a mask. At one time baseball catchers did not wear masks...

If pitchers are not required to wear a hockey mask, then they must be moved back or placed behind the protective screen used in batting practice.

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Why moving the pitching distance back three feet to the middle of the diamond makes so much sense.

The casual fan thinks that's where it is now, in the middle of the baseball diamond. But the middle would be about 63 feet from the back of home plate, not the 60 feet, six inches to the FRONT of home plate it really is.

Previous post:

Replace whining cheaters with pitching machines. Thursday, June 17, 2021 8:36 AM

In MLB, the pitchers in plain sight are throwing downhill! What the heck? Get rid of the damn mound! What's that about? And move the pitching distance back about three feet to the middle of the diamond. And make that the release point, not the launch point. The quarterback must release from no further than the line of scrimmage. The pitcher gets to start his motion from the designated distance and leap downhill at ever increasing distances towards the plate. I think that's why Yankee starter Luis Severino, recovering from major surgery, injured his groin recently in practice. His body wasn't quite ready for the hurtling action.

For a pitcher to add six inches to his fastball, all he has to do is land six inches closer to the front of the plate, which is where the pitching distance is measured, not the back of the plate. MLB distances tend to be backwards of common sense. 90 feet to first base is to the outfield side of the base, so the distance is 90 feet minus the size of first base.

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But there's more. That extra thee feet would significantly increase reaction time for both the batter and pitcher, who is now at the mercy of 119 miles per hour batted balls at ground level.

Best of all, the batter could adjust where to stand in the box, not mindlessly stand as far back from the pitcher as the plate umpire will allow. 

A zillion years ago Babe Ruth could stand more towards the front of the box because the pitchers did not throw as fast and he could still handle their fastballs. An added benefit was hitting the breaking pitch before it could break at the front of home plate. Neither of those things are possible today. Increasing the distance between the pitcher's release point and the front of home plate would give the batters the option of standing where they are comfortable instead of being as defensive as possible at maximum distance from the pitcher.

From those thrilling days of yesteryear:

Babe Ruth
Spring Training 1918
Brown Brothers, NY
Public domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Babe Ruth
1920 photograph of "First Year Yankee"
Public domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Babe Ruth
circa 1921
The Babe in full swing at batting practice.
Public domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Babe Ruth
1922
International Newsreel
Public domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth at bat, Garret catching 1920
National Photo Company Collection
Public domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Roger Maris
home run #58
September 17, 1961
Tiger Stadium in Detroit (12th inning)
Tony Spina
Public domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Roger Maris is in the middle of the batter's box in this video.

Automated strike zone does not need a plate umpire getting hit in the head by fouls.

It's really pretty disgraceful even for people insulated in baseball think who don't give a second thought to wanting the plate umpire to stand behind the catcher when the ump is not calling balls and strikes. Why do they want that? Because it makes the automated strike zone seem more like the "real thing". They ignore the fact that a human being will continue to get pounded with foul balls when he doesn't even need to be there. And all for appearances. They want the plate umpire told whether the pitch is a ball or a strike sp that the umpire can make the gesture for fan satisfaction.

‘We’re Lab Rats’: A Baseball League Where Stealing First Is O.K.
The Atlantic League has become an M.L.B. testing ground for ideas that could make the game livelier. Experiments include larger bases and an automated strike zone.

By Tyler Kepner Aug. 2, 2019 nytimes.com

The automated strike zone — perhaps the most radical of the experiments — made its debut at the Atlantic League All-Star Game last month, and in New Britain on Tuesday. It works this way: M.L.B.’s TrackMan radar system judges each pitch and sends the call — “Ball!” or “Strike!” in a male voice — through a wireless earpiece to the home plate umpire, who simply repeats the call ...

Rick White, the president of the Atlantic League and a former M.L.B. official, said the changes are intended partly to increase safety and speed up games.
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Irony and hypocrisy in perfect harmony.

Maybe the umpire and catcher are not in much danger? Would you put your head in harm's way?

All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Among Major League Baseball Players

JAMA Intern Med. Published online July 22, 2019 jamanetwork.com

We recently found lower mortality rates among MLB players overall and for certain specific causes compared with National Football League players, all of whom had playing careers of 5 years or longer.4 To better understand risks compared with the general public, we examined mortality rates among MLB players, including specific causes of death and differences by career length and position...
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Plow through it yourself but I have this view:

It's about guys who played a while ago and died in 1979 or later. If a guy died in 1990 at age 60 he played mostly in the 1950s.

I think there is a significant increase in punishment absorbed by catchers in recent seasons. Increased exit velo can go backwards into their heads. And more often. In other words:

I don't think that Yogi Berra took nearly as much punishment as Gary Sanchez does today. Same goes for plate umpires, who could easily be moved behind a protective screen or behind the pitcher.

Why remove catcher's gear?

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Start Time: 7:10 p.m. ET

Attendance: 37,591

Venue: Fenway Park

Game Duration: 3:28

Night Game, on grass

Red Sox 19, Yankees 3

With starting catcher Gary Sanchez injured, the Yankees started minor league call up Kyle Higashioka. With the Yankees trailing 12-3 he homered in the 5th. Boston had scored 7 in the first and 5 in the fourth. The route was on.

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	BF	Pit	Str	Ctct	StS	StL	GB	FB	LD	Unk	GSc	IR	IS	WPA	aLI	RE24
Masahiro Tanaka, L (7-6)	3.1	12	12	12	3	4	2	4.79	25	87	54	32	7	15	3	15	9	0	-11			-0.414	0.54	-9.4
Stephen Tarpley	1.2	5	4	4	2	1	0	8.22	12	48	29	17	6	6	3	6	4	0		1	1	-0.005	0.01	-3.1
Luis Cessa	2	2	0	0	0	1	0	3.96	7	18	14	9	2	3	3	3	1	0		1	1	0.000	0.00	0.6
Austin Romine	1	4	3	3	0	0	2	27.00	7	21	15	12	0	3	1	6	2	0		0	0	0.000	0.00	-2.4
Team Totals	8	23	19	19	5	6	4	21.38	51	174	112	70	15	27	10	30	16	0	-11	2	2	-0.419	0.26	-14.3

Yes, the Yankees used their temporary starting catcher Austin Romine to pitch the 8th inning and save their bullpen that one inning with Boston leading 16-3. Sandy Leon and Xander Bogaerts homered off Romine.

So what, right? Romine wasn't in the game but if he had been he would have removed his catcher's gear to pitch.

In games when he catches, Romine, like every catcher forever, would remove his catcher's gear every time he bats and then put it back on when he goes back to catching. That's tedious at best.

Why do that? Any of it? Including when pitching. It makes zero sense, except in the bizarre prism of baseball people: fans, players, management, media. If you presented this to a non baseball human being, the reaction would be that the catcher should continue to wear his protective gear when batting ... and while pitching, the position closest to the batter in fair territory.

I have advocated for years that pitchers should wear catcher's gear. And that all infielders should wear catcher's gear while fielding. But it makes even more sense that all batters wear catcher's gear while batting.

What kind of imbecile would argue against that?

Fans interfere because they define the end of the playing area.

This is one of the truly moronic baseball things that's been hanging around for more than a century.

In yesterday's game at Yankee Stadium (Yanks won 9-2) Yankee SS Gleyber Torres lost a home run in the third inning because a stupid Yankee fan reached for the long fly ball that Torres hit to left field. The Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon was approaching the wall and trying to make a difficult but not impossible catch. Catching it was no sure thing.

Initially it was ruled a three run home run. But after several minutes of video review by the umpires Torres was ruled out:

Flyball: LF/Fan Interference (Deep LF)

Three runs came off the scoreboard. Yankee manager Aaron Boone argued (like his predecessor Joe Girardi who was replaced for upsetting the players by being too intense) and was ejected. During the review Yankee announcer Michael Kay and former pitcher David Cone commented on the many replays and speculated about the rule and the possible rulings on this play. They were mostly guessing and the actual rule was never presented or referenced.

It will not be here. This is junk for three basic reasons unique to baseball and not in either basketball or football.

1. Playing fields are not uniform. This alone is moronic.
2. The edge of the playing area is defined by the area occupied by fans in most cases.
3. Fielders are allowed to make plays by reaching into the area occupied by fans.

Obviously, this is just asking for trouble, which may fit in perfectly with the most recent official embrace of bad behavior by players, you know, to make the game more appealing to young fans who really don't care or have any standards of proper behavior.

In other words, we're supposed to get all worked up about this. That was not the original intent but it fits in with sloppy thinking.

It's possible for a fan to run from the seating area in basketball or football and interfere but that's beyond the definition of the playing area. In baseball it's not. The fielders are forced to go to the fans to make certain plays.

The solution is simple and it also includes a more important safety feature I've been advocating for fielders to prevent them from crashing into walls:

Catching a fly ball on the warning track is not an out but the ball is still in play. As a practical matter the fielder would stop on the grass like a football receiver and reach to catch a ball that would land on the track. Obviously, this eliminates both fan interference and players dangerously extending into the stands.

Oh but wait. That would eliminate:
1. violent collisions with the wall, you know, like waiting for car accidents in road races.
2. the fielder timing the play to leap and prevent a ball from clearing the wall for a home run.

Hey, we fans really like that stuff, especially when we just watch a series of them as highlights and don't have watch an entire boring old game. What the heck?

Four Yankee outfielders (3 rookies) injured crashing into walls in less than a year. Outlaw catches on the warning track.

For our amusement we require players, especially outfielders, to run full speed into walls while looking in the opposite direction. Isn't it time this be relegated to other now outlawed acts like crashing into the catcher and smashing middle infielders?

In less than one year four Yankee outfielders have been seriously injured crashing into walls. Three of them were rookies, possibly trying too hard to impress and become permanent members of the active roster of 25.

For years I've been advocating a simple solution, which is unacceptable to average fans and league officials alike because it would be too much of a departure from traditional historic barbarity. Catching a fly ball on the warning track should not be a put out. The ball should be in play is if caught on a bounce. See how simple and effective that is? No padding. Just push the area for a catch of a fly ball back onto the grass, a safe distance from the walls. It also removes much of direct fan interference with the players.

Come on. Come. You know that football receivers have been doing this for decades, stopping near the sideline and catching a pass. And that with a defender about to tackle them and the ground not different as it is with the dirt warning track in baseball.

Any chance that will be considered? Will commissioner Manfred, the A-Rod Slayer, give it a second thought?

Here are the four Yankee outfielders injured:

Jacoby Ellsbury: Born: September 11, 1983 (Age: 34 and 202 days)
May 24, 2017; 1,162nd major league game. Missed 30 games with a concussion suffered when he crashed into the center field wall in the second inning.

June 4, 2002: Drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 23rd round of the 2002 amateur draft, but did not sign.

June 7, 2005: Drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 1st round (23rd pick) of the 2005 amateur draft. Player signed July 1, 2005.

October 31, 2013: Granted Free Agency.

December 7, 2013: Signed as a Free Agent with the New York Yankees.

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Dustin Fowler: Born: December 29, 1994 (Age: 23 and 93 days)
June 29, 2017; First and ONLY major league game. Playing right field Fowler ran into a low fence in foul territory in the first inning. He was removed from the game and never batted. Still hasn't. Injured leg.

June 8, 2013: Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 18th round of the 2013 amateur draft. Player signed July 10, 2013.

July 31, 2017: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Sonny Gray and international bonus slot money .

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Clint Frazier: Born: September 6, 1994 (Age: 23 and 207 days)
Spring training 2018: crashed into the left field wall and suffered a concussion. Has yet to play in either major or minor league games in 2018. Played in 39 major league and 74 minor league games in 2017.

June 6, 2013: Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 1st round (5th pick) of the 2013 amateur draft. Player signed June 15, 2013.

July 31, 2016: Traded by the Cleveland Indians with Ben Heller to the New York Yankees for Andrew Miller.

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Billy McKinney: Born: August 23, 1994 (Age: 23 and 221 days)
March 31, 2018. Second major league game. McKinney had just been brought up to replace injured center fielder Aaron Hicks, who suffered a pulled rib muscle. McKinney had been 1 for 4 in his one full game. But in game two playing left field in the bottom of the first inning in Toronto Blue Jay Josh Donaldson hit a long drive to left center. McKinney crashed into the wall, failing to make the catch. Donaldson had a double. McKinney was examined and remained in the game. The next batter Justin Smoak lined a single to left scoring Donaldson. McKinney threw the ball back in weakly and was removed. McKinney's left shoulder is injured and he will not play for a few weeks. McKinney both throws and bats lefty.

June 6, 2013: Drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 1st round (24th pick) of the 2013 amateur draft. Player signed June 14, 2013.

July 5, 2014: Traded by the Oakland Athletics with Addison Russell and Dan Straily to the Chicago Cubs for Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija.

July 25, 2016: Traded by the Chicago Cubs with Adam Warren to the New York Yankees for Aroldis Chapman.

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Fly caught on warning track should be in play, not an out, for safety. Friday, June 30, 2017

I've suggested this previously but two incidents this season cry out for this common sense safety change to the rules. Once a player steps onto the warning track, he may not record a putout. This removes any incentive to try to catch a fly near a wall.

Two Yankee outfielders have been seriously injured this season crashing into a wall try to catch a fly ball.

Center field veteran Jacoby Ellsbury crashed into the wall catching a ball and suffered a concussion. He just returned after missing weeks.

Last night rookie Dustin Fowler in his first game crashed into a low wall and injured his leg, which will require surgery.

Both injuries could have been prevented if my rule change had been implemented. It's basic common sense.

There is no Olympic event that requires the athlete to sprint into a wall while looking in the opposite direction. Asking baseball players to do it is absurd and irresponsible.

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