Seattle Mariners: Julio Rodriguez is the poster boy for automation
How does this happen? How can one player have so many umpire errors compile against them? Old school thinking is that a batter swings at anything close with two strikes. Based on the idea, an umpire is more forgiving to a pitcher with two strikes than a batter with two strikes. However, that theory conceptually wrecks actual place discipline and those that have a strong understanding of the strike zone.
Those watching the Seattle Mariners game on Saturday night saw it. Rodriguez drew a full-count walk on a pitch that was clearly a ball, but he looked back at the umpire as if to ask, are you sure you don’t want to ring me up?
Will there be a correction? No, that’s not how it really works. J-Rod might adjust, but hopefully, he doesn’t. This is clearly a situation where the league, especially the umpires, needs to be more accurate with the strike zone. If not, the specter of automated balls and strikes is hanging over them like the Angel of Death.
While I’m still on the fence about an automatic strike zone, the Angel Hernandez’s of the world and how Rodriguez has been treated regarding called third strikes has me leaning towards automation.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.
Joe Swenson is cool and writes about many things, all of the time.