Bud Black ponders big changes to MLB umpiring following controversial call

DENVER – On Friday night in Denver, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks fought each other in a critical series for the National League Wild Card. The final was 9-5 Snakes in the series opener, yet in the seventh inning there was a controversial call on what should’ve been a strikeout instead of a walk.

In the inning, Arizona tallied five runs after the situation flipped from two outs and nobody on to bases loaded and none away in an instant.

Colorado’s Adam Ottavino had a full count on Arizona’s A.J. Pollock, he threw his best pitch—as one does in a 3-2 count—a 79.4 mph slider.

The eighth pitch, as shown above by Baseball Savant, is in the strike zone but was called a ball. That call wound up flipping the game around. Although it only counted for a WPA+ (win probability added) of .021, it obviously had an effect on the game.

With technological improvements, many fans and even upset players are wondering if it is time to bring on the robots.

“Absolutely it can,” Bud Black responded when BSN Denver asked if an umpire’s zone can influence a game. “But it’s been that way for forever. The automated strike zone discussion is one that should be made, but I think it should be talked about with caution… but I think you should talk about it. The game has made great strides with technology, replay has proven to be a good thing.”

Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, told Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com earlier this year:

“It would be a pretty fundamental change in the game to take away a function that has been performed by our umpiring staff, really with phenomenal accuracy. The fact of the matter is they get them right well over 90 percent of the time.

“And there is a human aspect to that, a work aspect to it that’s always been an important part of our game. I don’t think you can just jump to the conclusion that if you have (the) technology to do it that’s the right thing for your product.”

But Black, like Manfred with pitch clocks, is ready to try on the lasers or robots or cameras in professional baseball.

“Let’s do it at the Triple-A level,” the Rockies manager said. “We have some ballparks that can handle it. Let’s test it.”

Many in the game have been pretty hard-headed about the issue, but it seems with each passing day as both the technology improves and baseball fans are less tolerant of umpire error, the argument for less ‘human element’ and more precision grows.

“When it was initially brought up five or six years ago I was sort of opposed to it because I’m a traditionalist and I like the human element,” Black said. “But I think we can discuss it and if the technology gets to a point where it truly works—I’m not going to say I know anything about the technology—I want to talk about it.”