MLB: 5 changes we’d love to see from umpires in 2022
Regardless of whether which MLB team you root for, there’s one team on the field that most fans can agree is not among their favorites: The umpires.
Whether a call is actually against your team or for your team, there’s a large group of people that are not happy with umpires.
They can get 98 percent of the calls correct and one of their four calls (out of 172) nearly be the difference between one team winning and one team losing. And that one game could be the one game that separates those same two teams at the end of playing 162 games.
Umpire Gabe Morales, who is one of the best home plate umpires in baseball in 2020 (he was eighth-best among the 74 full-time MLB umpires that umpired at least one game behind the plate in 2021, per UmpScorecards) but he had that happen for him in June.
He also had that happen to him in Game 5 of the NLDS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants on a check-swing call at first base. Here’s a side note: If MLB awarded postseason assignments to umpires more on merit, Morales wouldn’t have been at first base in Game 5 because he would have had a plate assignment in the series. He was also one of the best umpires on the bases in 2021, as he was overturned just three times on replay in 15 reviews. The average umpire was overturned seven times.
But a “checked swing” call is completely a judgment call, as there is not a word in the 154-page rulebook (excluding the index and appendices) for 2021 about what a check swing is.
That is part of the reason why a few things need to be changed for 2022 regarding umpires and it will help fans throughout baseball and it will also help the umpires as well.
Here are 5 things we would love to see MLB umpires have tweaked for the 2022 season
1. Define what a “checked swing” is
It’s not defined in the rule book so umpires have to decide what they think it is. Officially, MLB says a ball is when “a pitch … is not struck at by the batter” and a strike is when a pitch “[i]s struck at by the batter.”
Instead of having a judgment call on that, make it a rule enforcement. It could be the wrists breaking, the bat going past home plate (both of which are often used to determine a swing), or something else.
This play is also not reviewable, which leads to our second need for change.
2. Expand what can be reviewed on replay
Most things are reviewable but still, there are plays that aren’t. Checked swings are not reviewable (which, without a rule on it, is understandable because how do you overturn something with no rule on it?) and, as we saw in the other NLDS, plays that are not at a base on the infield are not reviewable.
This play was not reviewable because it wasn’t on a base or in the outfield.
Balls and strikes are also not reviewable. Considering that umpires often judge 150 or more pitches per game, it’s understandable that not every pitch can be challenged because it would take too long.
What about MLB and computerized strike zones?
This will never be admitted by officials publicly, but computers cannot tell the height of the strike zone since it is based on the batter when they are in their stance. The TV strike zone graphic does not change in height between Jose Altuve (who is listed as 5 feet, 6 inches tall) and Aaron Judge (who, at 6 feet, 7 inches tall is more than a foot taller than Altuve).
In short, that’s why MLB doesn’t have “robo umps”: MLB has to process the official height on pitches after the game. This is why there is “post-game processing” on Statcast and also why sites like UmpScorecards release the numbers the next day.
However, there are instances where there are egregious ball/strike calls in big parts of the game that impact the game’s outcome. What should be done with those?
3. There should be a challenge system on balls and strikes
The aforementioned Gabe Morales’s call in a Yankees-Red Sox game in the ninth inning of a tie game with runners on the corners with a 3-2 count and two out is much more important than the first pitch of a game.
Give each manager three challenges on that per game but the challenge must be nearly instantaneous. No “let’s have our replay guy in the clubhouse look at the pitch for 30 seconds and he sees it’s 1/16th of an inch off the plate so we’ll challenge now.” Give the manager five seconds to challenge it.
They can go to replay for it and announce the call. And speaking of announcing the call …
4. Umpires must announce the result and reasoning for a call on replay on a microphone
The NFL does this and it has worked well. MLB planned to do this early in 2020, per MLB umpire Jim Wolf in this podcast with Jomboy’s Chris Rose (you can listen to it here at the 55:00 mark) but with the pandemic, they scrapped it.
It’s unknown if it’s scrapped for good or just temporary but it is desperately needed, particularly for fans in stadiums.
Why MLB needs to include the fans more in the discussion
On TV, you can usually decipher what happened after replay but, for example, on this play in Game 3 of the 2021 ALDS between the Astros and White Sox, there wasn’t even a challenge on the play.
But there was a conference between the six umpires and an argument from Astros manager Dusty Baker. Over 40,000 people in Guaranteed Rate Field had no idea what had happened or what was even being argued.
An umpire announcing the ruling (or what happened/what was being argued) can alleviate a lot of issues for fans in the stadium as well as educate fans on the rules. It’s a win-win.
5. Let managers have unlimited challenges for calls on the field
Managers are limited to two challenges until the 8th inning. After that, they can ask the crew chief to look at a play. Some will grant it, some will not.
But if MLB truly wants the right call each time, there shouldn’t be a limit on reviews, with the exception of balls and strikes.
Will it take longer? Probably, but there are plenty of other ways to help the “pace of play.” But that is a conversation for another time and another day.
Next. Which MLB managers have been fired since the end of the 2021 season?. dark
What do you think of these ideas? What changes would you make regarding umpires in 2022? Let us know in the comment section below or on social media.