The Pursuit of the Elusive Umpire Perfect Game - The Ringer

This is good stuff.

Carig: In lashing out at Manny Machado, umpires’ union reveals itself to be tone deaf – The Athletic

#Disappointed #LeadByExample #NotAppreciated #Violence #TemperTantrum #Inaction #NotTolerated #MakeanExampleof #OneGameSuspension #RepeatOffender #Nonsense #MLBUA @MLB @Padres @Buster_ESPN pic.twitter.com/pkcW5O1SnB

— Major League Baseball Umpires Association (@MLBUA) June 18, 2019

More stuff.

Breaking: MLB has suspended #Padres 3B Manny Machado for one game for "aggressively arguing" and making contact with umpire Bill Welke in Colorado on Saturday. Machado will appeal the ruling. pic.twitter.com/ncksG4r8F7

— Troy Hirsch (@troyhirschfox5) June 17, 2019

Frustration with MLB umpires growing again after series of heated confrontations

It seems every season there’s a point where frustration with umpires starts to boil over.

We might have already reached that point this season following a series of heated confrontations that culminated with members of the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants calling out the umpiring crew from their series.

Specifically, Nationals manager Davey Martinez said he felt disrespected by Wednesday’s home plate umpire Tony Randazzo after disagreeing with his strike zone.

So, how long before the managers end up screaming at robots?

Cubs and Rockies stars let out frustrations with ump-charging meltdowns

After meeting in the National League wild-card game last season, the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies have both gotten off to disappointing starts in 2019.

On Saturday, the frustrations of both teams seemingly boiled over as Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber and Rockies All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado got into heated confrontations with umpires over perceived missed calls.

Schwarber was the decisive batter during Saturday’s Angels-Cubs game at Wrigley Field. With the bases loaded, two outs and the Cubs down by one run, Schwarber stepped to the plate against Angels closer Cody Allen in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Schwarber worked the count full, then attempted to check his swing on a pitch in the dirt. The struggling Cubs slugger thought he held up. Third base umpire Gabe Morales disagreed. Morales rang Schwarber up on the appeal, which sent Schwarber into a fit of rage.

Do you think that these players would be brave enough to charge a RoboUmp?

MLB umpires missed 34,294 ball-strike calls in 2018, study shows

“”(T)hroughout its history, MLB has protected its error-prone umpires, resisted adopting strong performance measurements, and not taken advantage of available technology that could better the game. At a time of autonomous cars and machine learning, MLB needs to embrace useful change. … Given how MLB is heavily dependent on performance statistics when evaluating players, it is surprising the league has been sluggish to apply similar rigor to umpire hiring, promotion, and retention.”

Are Baseball Umpires Wrong As Often As Fans Think They Are? Yes, One Study Says

Baseball is back, and fans can anticipate another season of amazing catches, overpowering pitching, tape-measure home runs – and, yes, controversial calls that lead to blow-ups between umpires and players.

Home plate umpires are at the heart of baseball; every single pitch can require a judgment call. Yet ask any fan or player, and they’ll tell you that many of these calls are incorrect – errors that can affect strategy, statistics and even game outcomes.

Just how many mistakes are made?

Comprehensive umpire performance statistics are not readily known, tracked or made available. Major League Baseball doesn’t seem interested in sharing the historical data.

A consideration of how well umpires actually call balls and strikes- the formatting is a bit off, but it makes for a very interesting article indeed.