As of spring 2016, 13.4 million people played softball or baseball within the last 12 months in the United States (compared to the 7.9 million who participated in archery). Though shaved bats don’t do well in cold temperatures, specifically if it’s colder than 65 degrees, players all over the world enjoy stepping into the batter’s box.
From Little League parents to college players, everyone has argued or at least rolled their eyes at an umpire after a bad call. At the Major League Level, these umpire disputes are on a much larger scale.
According to 670 The Score, Chicago Cubs’ star Ben Zobrist was ejected for the first time in his career on August 14 after an umpire called a third strike. Zobrist didn’t lose his temper, cover the plate, or ague from the dugout like other ejections we’ve seen in the past; he simply referenced what he hopes is the future of the sport: robot umpires.
“I’ve been more riled up before,” Zobrist said. “I’ve been more animated and emotional and upset than I was. But I just felt like I wanted to have a conversation about it, and he didn’t.”
The 13-year MLB veteran was ejected from the game by home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi in the ninth inning of the Cubs’ loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. Zobrist went back to Cuzzi and told him that he and other MLB players are looking forward to the robotic umpires of the future in order to avoid miscalls like that.
“I just basically said, ‘That’s why we want an electronic strike zone,'” Zobrist added. “And that’s what obviously got me tossed. It is what it is. I’m not going to lie. When you’re dealing with that and you’re trying to have good, quality at-bats and you feel like it gets taken away from you, sometimes your pride gets in the way and you say things that are going to upset them. Obviously, that upset him, and he tossed me.”
According to MLB.com, though it’s a subject of much controversy within the sport, electronic strike zones could soon actually find their place on a baseball diamond.
“With technology, there is always some noise or uncertainty, but our system is accurate to less than an inch,” said Ryan Zander, general manager of baseball products at Sportvision. Sportvision designed the innovative PITCHf/x, a three-camera tracking system used to triangulate the full trajectory of live baseball pitches to within an inch of accuracy.
