MLB Thread 5/2 to 5/8

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Here's how the league's system works, according to sources: MLB employs a team of auditors to assist in its review of each game. The auditors set a unique strike zone for each player based on his setup in the batter's box. The top of the strike zone is his beltline and the bottom the hollow of his back knee, both determined when he's loading and preparing to swing. The margin of error is implemented off the corners -- 2 inches on each side of the plate.

The rationalization for the margin of error, which was collectively bargained between the league and the umpires' union -- the MLB Umpires Association declined comment -- was ostensibly due to the limitations of previous tracking technology but also buys umpires leeway in their grading. MLB currently employs a camera-based system to track its games, and it provides a wide array of data now seen as standard across baseball. Pitch velocity and movement, batted-ball exit velocity and launch angle -- each is measured by the 12-camera Hawk-Eye system installed in all 30 major league stadiums. While Hawk-Eye's margin of error is measured to be .16 of an inch, previous systems' was greater, and the umpires negotiated a so-called buffer zone of 2 inches on either side. Even with Hawk-Eye, that remains in place.

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By MLB's calculations, the league-wide average for umpires on correct and acceptable calls -- belt to knees, 21 inches across (the 17-inch-wide plate plus 2 inches either way) -- was 97.4% in the 2021 season. The highest-ranked umpire, according to MLB, graded out at 98.5%. The lowest: 96%.

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But those third-party evaluations often tell a very different story. UmpScores said the best home-plate umpire in baseball last year, Tripp Gibson, graded out around 93.6% accurate. Four umpires last season, according to UmpScores, missed on more than 10% of pitches they called for balls and strikes.

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