Under The Knife 6/21/24

Unchallenge

Joe Sheehan sparked an idea in his recent column about pitch framing and why automatic balls and strikes (ABS or let’s just all go ahead and call it Robo-Ump because we all will) won’t be ready for 2025. To a man, every ump at every level that I speak to says they are not fooled by framing at that largely, they’re making the decision on ball or strike before the ball is caught.

When I umpired, I was taught to use the front of the plate as a frame. “Think of it like a plate of glass. If the ball shatters the glass, strike of course, but if it just nicks the edge, it’s still a strike,” was how I remember it. I’m sure I’m paraphrasing. Being young, I of course tried to do a three-dimensional cube and became known as an ump that was friendlier to curves and sliders.

But why not test this? I’m not entirely sure how, but let’s get a bunch of umps from all levels and figure out how they’re actually calling the zone. Then let’s add in catchers who frame, good and bad, and see how it changes things. This is precisely the type of thing that MLB should be doing and doing transparently. I mean, I would watch this show on MLB Network and in the off-season, why not have me and Brian Kenny be Baseball Mythbusters, finding the knowable?

Manfred appears to be holding up ABS because it’s not perfect. That’s the wrong standard. When it’s better than the current system - humans - it should be used and we have very good tools to know exactly how good those humans are, individually and in aggregate. They should always use the best system, period, unless there’s a really, really good reason not to do so. I know the idea of MLB testing itself is kind of anti-scientific, but I don’t think even someplace like the UMass Lab could pull this off, with the unions and the Commissioner involved. This has to be MLB itself, trying to show that it’s open and at least curious about the process.

This isn’t a criticism of the umpires. Not only are they usually very good at the job, they’re accountable immediately. The fans jeer, Aaron Boone runs out, and the ump gets noticed. Most don’t want that, with some exceptions, and of course, everyone has a bad night. I’d invite everyone - every single one of you - to sign up to be an ump for a local league. First, the kids need it and second, you immediately learn how tough the job can be.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t want ABS. I want the best of everything at every level of baseball, including the best players on the field more often, so let’s look at the injuries:

JOSE SORIANO, SP LAA (infected abdomen)

There’s a whole class of people that have taken to social media and anyone throwing hard, they post “TOMMY JOHN UPCOMING!” Look, you have a one-third chance at being right, but when it’s a high school kid, someone should take a hard look in the mirror or invent a social media that isn’t a toxic dump. When it’s Paul Skenes or Jose Soriano, why can’t these people just enjoy it? If it’s just for a short time, enjoy it. Look back on Stephen Strasburg’s career and damn, there’s some moments. Seeing him early in his career in Cincinnati with my friend was an awesome game, like seeing the eclipse.

Don’t be patboooooth.

Regardless, with Jose Soriano hitting the IL shortly after the Angels said he’d just skip a start, that’s started. Or gotten worse. Most of them haven’t noticed it’s not an arm injury for the flamethrower, but an abdominal infection. There’s not a lot in the way of specifics and frankly, this is one of those where I haven’t chased details. If it’s an intestinal or stomach issue, those pass. If it’s more like a wound or internal fissure, that’s bigger, but there’s been no indication of that, especially with the early expectation of just missing a start.

For the Angels, the key is getting talent on the field and Soriano has been an absolute find since coming up. In the pen and now in the rotation, the talent has been a showcase for what the organization wants to develop - top level pitching - but hasn’t been able to do much, despite going all-in on the draft a couple years ago. Zach Plesac will fill in until Soriano is back.

NOLAN ARENADO, 3B STL (bruised elbow)

Most players wear elbow guards, even Nolan Arenado. The problem is that it wasn’t his lead elbow that got hit by an inside pitch. Arenado had an awkward check swing and somehow the pitch rode into his back elbow as it came through, as you can see in this MLB.com video. He was down and in quite some pain, leading many to think he’d had the ulnar nerve (funny bone) hit, which is nasty. If you’ve ever hit your funny bone on something, it was probably bumping it into something in the house, not coming at you at 90mph. It’s different.

(Yes, this one happened to me in high school though likely on a far less hard pitch. I turned and took it just inside my winging front elbow and my left arm was dead for about 48 hours. 0/10, do not recommend.)

X-rays showed no fracture, but I imagine that Arenado had much the same pain, swelling, and weakness that I did. That he’s missed a couple games isn’t a worry and all indications are that he’ll be back quickly. As painful as it was, this type of injury is normally transient and Arenado shouldn’t have any consequences. If he’s throwing well in warmups, he’s just fine.

I did ask one hitting coach why a hitter couldn’t wear some sort of back arm protection. He said they could, but that this kind of HBP is exceedingly rare. He has a point, as I can’t think of any other situations like this in recent memory and mine was a while back, if still vivid. Absent an Iron Man suit, players do resist pads. Which reminds me - watching the Rickwood game on Thursday, Heliot Ramos was wearing a hand pad, but I didn’t see any others. I’m curious if the Mookie Betts injury will lead to any - especially Dodgers - adopting the guard.