Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

[stealyerface]

I thought maybe we could have a thread where those who were interested, could give and get feedback on the Umpiring Crew for the 2017 Season.

Maybe you realize that Country Joe McDonald is still as awful as ever. Maybe you and Clyde Washington have yet to see eye to eye on how the strike zone ought to be called.

If you have noticed tendencies, or flat-out mistakes, and want to share your scouting report on who is behind the dish, and how to pitch accordingly, let's hear what you have.
~syf

[335TDC]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

I've had a few at-bats where the ump has squeezed my pitcher TWICE and then called strike 3 on an obvious ball. I used to hat that, but now I LOVE it.

[forme95]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

I love having to learn the umps tendencies. It's a whole nother aspect to the game that makes it realistic

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J120A using Tapatalk

[Juzbee]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

Rusty Valentine always sucks behind the plate.

[BeatArmy]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

Rusty Valentine always sucks behind the plate.

Awful nice of them to give C. B. Bucknor a new name for the game.

Which is the guy who gives you one side of the plate? Damn, just had him the other day. I could work right on the strike zone line all day to the LH batter's box but come inside to a RH batter and it went pear shaped in a hurry.

[Syce]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

millennium has a guide for umpires and he said during one of his review copy streams that he would post it. i guess he never got around to it.

[sink4ever]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

I'm using a spreadsheet again this year to track them. So far the tendencies seem the same as '16 which would be nice, that would mean we already have a pretty good idea of what they tend to call. Below is my latest updated spreadsheet for '16.

Spoiler

[Armor and Sword]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

I'm using a spreadsheet again this year to track them. So far the tendencies seem the same as '16 which would be nice, that would mean we already have a pretty good idea of what they tend to call. Below is my latest updated spreadsheet for '16.

Spoiler

Please expand on your rating system and what your numbers mean. Thanks for sharing this too. It’s nice!!!

[stealyerface]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

That spreadsheet is pretty slick, but I too would love to know how to better read it.

Are you testing this by starting a two player game, and pitching to a non-swinging batter, to see tendencies of where strikes get called?

My feeling would be that if Clyde Washington was behind the plate, and you consistently saw that he rarely gave to inside black to a left handed hitter, but would call strikes 3-4 inches out of the zone to the outside, he would be labeled as "Outer-Edge Positive/Inside Negative".

Joe McDonald would be given a Low Negative, with a Loose 3 positive.

The way we charted umpires back in the olden days was with the 1-9 zone as such:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

We would see see who was behind the plate as they walked towards the field from their car, and for whoever had the gear on, we would quick check the scoresheets from their games prior, and whoever was charting pitches would have made notes in the margins for "Big 3R" or "No 1-4-7L" meaning a large up and in zone to a righty, or no inside edge love to the leftys, respectively.

Before we hit the mound, it was a quick way to visualize where we may have gotten an advantage, or could be wasting pitches that we normally would be calling.

My idea for this thread was to offer a scouting report for guys that were going to start their Seasons/Franchises, and wanted an early edge when it came to who was calling the games.

It is fun to learn each guy for sure, but I figured we could have some fun seeing the personalities of each umpire available before a big game.

~syf

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

I just found these videos on YouTube that offer the line of commentary on home plate umps from The Show '16. Since it was said that the ump traits haven't changed, these should still be accurate:

Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5kynpirebA
Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3OfQKZArEI

I don't think this covers all of them, but it might be another place to start if we're compiling a complete umpire scouting report!

[sink4ever]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

Please expand on your rating system and what your numbers mean. Thanks for sharing this too. It’s nice!!!

That spreadsheet is pretty slick, but I too would love to know how to better read it.

Are you testing this by starting a two player game, and pitching to a non-swinging batter, to see tendencies of where strikes get called?

Yeah, it's nothing fancy. I play vs. CPU and just track it that way. If a pitch is pretty much all the way out of the strikezone and is called a strike, I mark it +1 in the appropriate column for that ump. If it's pretty much entirely inside the strikezone and is called a ball, I mark it -1.

For instance, let's look at Mike Filmore. If Mike's behind the plate and I'm facing (or hitting with) a RH batter and there's a pitch mostly outside the strikezone on the outside corner and it's called a strike, I go to the "Away" column under "vs. RH batter" and add +1. The more times I see that pitch called a strike, the more I keep adding a +1 and the higher the number in the cell.

If we look at what I've observed of Mike, I'd say he's pretty generous on both corners vs RH and LH batters but tends to squeeze you around the letters and the knees.

Clyde Washington is infamous for calling the low strike. James Kingsley calls a lot of strikes on the inside corner vs. lefties and outside corner vs. righties, but squeezes you outside vs. lefties and inside vs. righties.

Hope this helps a little bit.

[stealyerface]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

Yeah, it's nothing fancy. I play vs. CPU and just track it that way. If a pitch is pretty much all the way out of the strikezone and is called a strike, I mark it +1 in the appropriate column for that ump. If it's pretty much entirely inside the strikezone and is called a ball, I mark it -1.

For instance, let's look at Mike Filmore. If Mike's behind the plate and I'm facing (or hitting with) a RH batter and there's a pitch mostly outside the strikezone on the outside corner and it's called a strike, I go to the "Away" column under "vs. RH batter" and add +1. The more times I see that pitch called a strike, the more I keep adding a +1 and the higher the number in the cell.

If we look at what I've observed of Mike, I'd say he's pretty generous on both corners vs RH and LH batters but tends to squeeze you around the letters and the knees.

Clyde Washington is infamous for calling the low strike. James Kingsley calls a lot of strikes on the inside corner vs. lefties and outside corner vs. righties, but squeezes you outside vs. lefties and inside vs. righties.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Got it! Nice. Thanks for the info.
~syf

[Mikeyo918]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

Hopefully Millenium sees this and shares his scouting report.

[kaptainkarl76]

Re: Umpire Scouting Update 2017 (Possible Spoilers)

Most of the umps still have an compulsion to play with their facemasks after almost every pitch..One of the umps does it constantly..