Aw, I'm going to miss heckling the same umps that screwed us over in high school

I remember hearing that scoring was back down at normal levels in some minor-league this year. Could that be because the scab umps were calling the rule-book strike zone?

I remember hearing that scoring was back down at normal levels in some minor-league this year. Could that be because the scab umps were calling the rule-book strike zone?

Hitters were too busy whipping their bats at umpires to concentrate on the pitchers.

I remember hearing that scoring was back down at normal levels in some minor-league this year. Could that be because the scab umps were calling the rule-book strike zone?

No. To the extent that it's related to the umpiring, it's because the replacement umpires were calling an inconsistent zone, which kept the hitters off-balance.

-- MWE

Deal is ratified by umps.

-- MWE

Indianapolis Star article offers some details of the settlement:

Minor league umpires settled their season-long strike, ratifying a six-year contract today that calls for a $100 monthly salary increase.


Umps had said their salaries previously averaged $15,000 at Triple-A, $12,000 at Double-A, $10,000 in full-season A-ball and $5,500 in rookie leagues.
As part of the new deal, per diems rise $3 to $28 at Triple-A, $25 at Double-A and $23 at Class A. They will rise gradually to $40 at Triple-A in 2011, $35 at Double-A and $30 at Class A.

The per diems were the big stumbling block in the previous offers.

-- MWE

It was only a matter of time before someone scheduled a promotion around the return of the regular umpires.

-- MWE

there are 3 strike zones in every game
the pitcher
the batter
the umpire

by degrees,but it is there

I'll buy that it's a different zone only because it's different people but i don't believe that there would be inter-game vagaries

to finish the thought........to impact run scoring

i don't believe that there would be inter-game vagaries

You haven't watched very many minor league games.

-- MWE

it would be an interesting study to take all 2006 clubs impacted by the strike and contrast all called balls and strikes/omit swinging strikes/ against the same 2005 clubs for the same time period,number of games etc.
i haven't seen any minor league games yet this year
i've seen about 30 high school and college games this year
it seems to me that most teams have a good read of the zone by the 2nd inning and i haven't witnessed any hostility over and above the usual partisan stuff..... 'that was outside blue' 'that looked good blue' 'geezus that was a strike' etc.

haven't seen any minor league games yet this year
i've seen about 30 high school and college games this year

The speed of a HS/college game is slower than the speed of a typical minor league game - indeed, that was the biggest complaint against the replacement umps by the minor leaguers (managers and players), that the game was too fast for them. There's a significant difference between calling mid-80s fastballs and low-90s fastballs - not to mention the assortment of sliders and tight breaking pitches that the pros throw that the HS and college kids don't. The pro pitchers work the corners much more consistently than they do at the lower levels, where the tendency is to just read back and lay it in there.

After 30 minor league games with replacement umps, I've seen only two or three where the umpire was calling the same strike zone at the end of the game that he was at the beginning, and I've seen at least a dozen when the plate umpire hesitated after nearly every pitch before making a call, almost as if he had to replay where the location was in his mind's eye - and the same pitch could be called a strike one time and a ball the next time as a result.

-- MWE