Fans Fed Up With Current State of Umpires

In this week’s MLB Reacts survey, fans were questioned about their feelings on MLB’s umpires. To no surprise, the bulk of those surveyed are not exactly pleased with how things are currently going.

Personally, I have to wonder if home-plate umpires are making the same ball/strike calls that they always have. Subsequently, I feel like the modern pitch tracking data that is readily available to fans is what is a driving at least a fraction of the frustration mounting against the umpires. Perhaps we have always been a bit critical of some ball/strike calls; now, there is a data to confirm (or deny) any suspicion that arises.

I have a feeling that robot umpires are coming to the Majors — ready or not. It does surprise me that over half of the surveyed fans would support a change to the robots, considering that an appeal to the game is that there are still a few ‘old-school’ components that underlie; removing the man behind home plate that calls the shots would be a huge kick in the knee to the game’s countless traditional fans. However, I do think that all styles of fans could agree to want consistency and accuracy when it comes to ball/strike calls. If there is technology available to achieve this, why shouldn’t MLB at least try it out?