Bleed Cubbie Blue · Jun 19, 2019
The MLB Umpires Association is a flawed and opaque organization
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports Manny Machado responds to getting ejected by MLB umpire Bill WelkeEarlier this year I wrote about a study of 4 million balls and strikes and the frequency with which umpires blow calls. It’s a compelling data set from Boston University that goes a long way to explaining something that pretty much all baseball fans can agree on: home plate umpires blow close strike calls at incredibly high rates and in predictable ways. These missed calls get magnified on social media, have led to suggestions there should be a robotic or automatic strike zone, and occasionally lead to confrontations with players.