“Ugh, what am I going to do with this?”
That’s the first word out of the mouth of every baseball insider I spoke with. That’s because a serious call controversy has been reverberating from the game between NC and Samsung at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 14th.
The issue arose in the bottom of the third inning, when Samsung’s Lee Jae-hyun was batting with two outs and a runner on first base. When NC pitcher Lee Jae-hak threw two pitches for strikes with the first pitch, Kim Ji-chan attempted to steal first base. The initial call was an out, but after video review, it was overturned as a save.
Lee Jae-hak threw two pitches that looked like strikes to the naked eye, but were called balls. He then threw three balls, making it a three-ball, two-strike situation.
At this point, NC coach Kang In-hwa approached the umpire and protested. Lee Jae-hak’s two pitches were strikes, but they were counted as balls. The KBO had provided each team’s dugout with a tablet to view the results of the call, 카지노사이트 and the tablet showed that the automatic ball scoring system (ABS) had labeled Lee’s second pitch as a strike, but the umpire had called it a ball.
In response to Kang’s protest,
The four umpires gathered to discuss the call, with the umpires’ voices being broadcast over the loudspeaker. The first decision was that Lee’s two pitches were strikes, but because he didn’t protest immediately after the pitches were thrown, the statute of limitations on appeal had passed and the call was upheld.
The question is what happened next. Assistant umpire Lee Min-ho said to the umpire, “If you didn’t hear it, you should have signed that you didn’t hear it, but you passed it over.” Lee said, “You hear that I recognized it as a ball. This is the only way we can get out of this. The voice is a ball,” which was broadcast as it was. When umpire Moon Seung-hoon said, “It was crackling and looked like a ball,” assistant coach Lee Min-ho said, “Say ‘it was a ball,’ not ‘it looked like a ball. We don’t want to lose.”
The comments, which seemed to be a conspiracy to blame ABS for the blown call, were broadcast on the air, and the controversy spread like wildfire. Even the game resulted in a 12-5 victory for Samsung.
Many baseball fans, especially NC fans, criticized the umpires’ mockery.
The KBO said that it “recognizes the gravity of the situation and will respond firmly.” The KBO has asked the umpires to submit a post-game report and is discussing their punishment on Friday. “Trying to blame the wrong call on the machine is something that should never happen,” said a baseball insider, “The umpires in question will not be able to play for a while and will likely be disciplined.”
However, the controversy has led to a growing chorus of voices in the baseball world saying that the introduction of ABS was premature. They argue that the rush to introduce ABS while the technology was not yet perfect created the conditions for this incident to happen.
Coincidentally, before the game on the 14th, Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung made a strong criticism of ABS, saying, “ABS is not baseball. I can’t believe it.” The players and coaching staff on the field had many complaints about ABS.
In addition to Kim Tae-hyung, some players have been complaining about the inconsistency of ABS for a long time. Taken together, they say that the strike zone under ABS is slightly different at different stadiums and changes depending on the weather. In particular, hitters say that the top of the strike is called a strike higher than before.
The KBO’s stance is that there is no problem with ABS.
The left and right sides of the strike zone are wider by 2 centimeters on each side of home plate, and the top and bottom of the strike zone are consistently applied according to the height ratio of the batter, with the top being 56.35% of the player’s height and the bottom being 27.64% of the player’s height.
In a recent interview with the media, KBO Commissioner Heo Gu-yeon said that it is not true that the ABS zone varies depending on the ballpark and the slope of the ground. It’s just a subjective feeling of the players. The simulations have already been run and adjusted, and the angles of the three cameras installed in each stadium are the same, so the strike zone cannot be different.
However, in the case of the controversial ball call, it was revealed that the umpire was trying to pass the blame to the machine. Baseball traditionalists such as Kim Tae-hyung said, “It’s not baseball to leave such an important decision to a machine.”
“There shouldn’t be obvious errors in baseball, but it’s part of the game and fun for the umpires and coaching staff to argue over small differences in judgment,” said a baseball figure who requested anonymity. “A catcher’s framing technique to make it look like a strike in the umpire’s eyes is also something that makes baseball fun, and it’s a skill that only a catcher can do, but if ABS takes away these things, it takes away the romance and fun of baseball.”
While the behavior of the umpires who appeared to be trying to manipulate the call was wrong
Some say the current atmosphere of overly vilifying umpires needs to end. “In the past, there were cases of referees distorting or manipulating the outcome even when they made obviously wrong calls, but that has disappeared in recent years because every detail of the game is captured on the screen,” said A, a commentator who requested anonymity. “On the contrary, referees have been psychologically weakened by the fans’ excessive criticism of the referees over small differences in judgment.”
There were even a few referees who welcomed the introduction of ABS, saying, “Now I have one less headache.” While A assumes that the referees were clearly at fault in the incident, he said, “I think the fans’ criticism was so fierce that the referees made wrong judgments in the heat of the moment.”
It was also pointed out that the ABS system should be further improved. “The major leagues have been pushing for the introduction of ABS before us, but they have been delaying the introduction because the smooth and quick delivery of the ball readings has not been resolved,” said SPOTV commentator Min Hoon-ki. “If we don’t want something like this to happen, we need to take measures to ensure that the ball readings are delivered quickly and accurately.”
However
The general consensus in baseball is that “ABS was introduced a bit prematurely, but the trend is clear, so we can only wait and see.” While there are some complaints among players, there are also many who believe that ABS is more intuitive and convenient than having to deal with the ups and downs of strike and ball calls.
It is also pointed out that players need to adapt to ABS and pitch clocks, which were introduced this season, rather than reacting against them. “If the manager and coaching staff complain about ABS or pitch clocks, the players will be affected, 메이저 토토사이트 and it will naturally affect their performance,” said commentator B. “Since it is still early in the season, it is the right direction to try ABS first and discuss the results later.”
“Baseball fans are increasingly demanding fairness in judgment, and I think the ABS system is inevitable if baseball wants to expand its fan base to younger generations who are sensitive to fairness,” said another baseball figure who requested anonymity. “In terms of the globalization of baseball, it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. and Japan also adopt ABS.”
MBC commentator Park Jae-hong also said, “We shouldn’t be too quick to judge ABS from this situation,” adding, “It’s early in the season and we need more data on ABS. It’s too early in the season and we need to see more data on ABS.” A KBO official said, “We are continuing to work on complementary measures, such as creating a 3D graphic representation of the strike zone to more clearly communicate the accuracy of ABS judgments to fans.”