Series Thread: New look Rangers bird watching in Baltimore 8/2-8/4

[True Rangers Fan]

Regardless if he's working on pitches or not. His results are what will get him back up or gone.

He was the closer on a team that went to the postseason last year. Now he's in AAA and can't get people out. If he was working on pitches, he needs new ones.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

Jonathon Lucroy: Texas' New Pitch Framing Expert -

 

[saddles]

Regardless if he's working on pitches or not. His results are what will get him back up or gone.

The smart thing for him would be to not worry about results right now and get right. I am not saying that is what he is doing though. Sometimes it is difficult for baseball players to do the smart thing.

 

[saddles]

Jonathon Lucroy: Texas' New Pitch Framing Expert -

I had posted this article one time before. It seems to indicate that pitch framing is on the decline in terms of the effect that it has on the umpires. Myself, I agree with one of the commenters on the article you posted. It seems to be lazy umpiring to go by where they think the catcher catches the ball instead of by where it crosses the plate.

The Beginning of the End for Pitch-Framing? | FanGraphs Baseball

The theory would go like this: more than ever before, umpires are aware of good framers. They’re aware that good framers can get strikes out of the zone, so then that introduces a bias. Umpires don’t want to be wrong, and their bosses don’t want for them to be wrong. It’s not like an umpire would watch a pitch, then think about a call, then think about the catcher, then change his mind. These decisions happen way too fast, but you’d just have to believe there’s some effect. A different call out of every 10, or 20, or 30, or 50. Something that would show up in bigger samples. It makes sense that, if umpires became aware of great pitch-framing, they might become aware of ways to call the game that have a little less to do with how a catcher moves. And you have to think framing has been on their radar...

It’s too soon to say for sure what all is going on. And framing will presumably always matter some, until or unless the strike zone is automated. But, within the industry, there’s been a line of thought that pitch-framing value would be only temporarily useful. Could be we’re starting to see what they mean.

 

[jta4437]

I had posted this article one time before. It seems to indicate that pitch framing is on the decline in terms of the effect that it has on the umpires. Myself, I agree with one of the commenters on the article you posted. It seems to be lazy umpiring to go by where they think the catcher catches the ball instead of by where it crosses the plate.

The Beginning of the End for Pitch-Framing? | FanGraphs Baseball

The theory would go like this: more than ever before, umpires are aware of good framers. They’re aware that good framers can get strikes out of the zone, so then that introduces a bias. Umpires don’t want to be wrong, and their bosses don’t want for them to be wrong. It’s not like an umpire would watch a pitch, then think about a call, then think about the catcher, then change his mind. These decisions happen way too fast, but you’d just have to believe there’s some effect. A different call out of every 10, or 20, or 30, or 50. Something that would show up in bigger samples. It makes sense that, if umpires became aware of great pitch-framing, they might become aware of ways to call the game that have a little less to do with how a catcher moves. And you have to think framing has been on their radar...

It’s too soon to say for sure what all is going on. And framing will presumably always matter some, until or unless the strike zone is automated. But, within the industry, there’s been a line of thought that pitch-framing value would be only temporarily useful. Could be we’re starting to see what they mean.

Well whatever was going on, those guys in Baltimore definitely did not know where the edges of the strike zone were