Questec Interview (December 18, 2003)
Excellent interview!
My head is still turning at what this means:
Finally, to clarify one of your points, a batter's strike zone is set and adjusted for every called pitch he sees. If he has three at-bats in a game and saw a total of 10 called pitches, we will adjust the strike zone 10 times.
--posted by TangoTiger at 01:50 PM EDT
Posted 8:19 p.m.,
December 18, 2003
(#1) -
FJM
Since there were 10 Questec parks in 2003, there should be enough data to test the hypothesis that the umpiring is different under Questec. Anyone care to take it on?
Posted 8:31 p.m.,
December 18, 2003
(#2) -
tangotiger
I remember MGL, Keith Woolner/Nate Silver doing some studies. Google on baseballprimer.com, and you should get something.
Posted 11:34 a.m.,
December 19, 2003
(#3) -
Red
Tango,
I think he means just what he says: the strike zone (as Questec sees it) is adjusted (up and down) for every pitch thrown. This makes sense, as batters could change stances (or location within the batters box) between pitches during any at-bat. This change in position would then, by definition, change the actual strike zone. I think the real point is that the zone isn't fixed for any specific at-bat.
Posted 11:58 a.m.,
December 19, 2003
(#4) -
tangotiger
or location within the batters box I don't see this part as relevant.
As for the changing strike zone by player, I guess the effect is overstated. I suppose it could change by half an inch or something, and that would be nice to know.
Posted 2:14 p.m.,
December 19, 2003
(#5) -
Red
Tango,
I know that the position of the player within the batter's box doesn't change the location of the strike zone. However, it may change the apparent location of the zone from the Questec cameras point of view. For instance if the batter is farther back in the box, the zone may appear to be lower than if the batter was closer to the pitcher. In this case you would want to make that adjustment.
Does anybody know how many camera locations the system uses at each ballpark?
In any event I don't think that adjusting the zone for every pitch makes that big of a difference, but it probably is the more accurate way of looking at the issue.
Posted 11:01 a.m.,
December 21, 2003
(#6) -
Stu
The strike zone is defined as : "The STRIKE ZONEis that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the knee cap. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball. (For diagram of STRIKE ZONE see page 23.) "
The Questec guys says: "If you were to see the operator in action, you would realize what a non-issue this is. The operator sets the top line at the top of the belt buckle. This eliminates any eye-balling he/she would have to do in order to set the top of the strike zone. The system then lifts the top of the zone to set it at 2.5 ball widths. "
Shouldn't the upper end of the strike zone vary depending on the height of the players or the stance? Rickey's crouch would have no effect on the strike zome if the upper limit is set a 2.5 ball widths without regard to where the shoulders are. What am I missing?
As to the ten adjustments for the ten called pitches, Questec emphasis that the pitches are only called pitches. He says this in two different ways ("Finally, to clarify one of your points, a batter's strike zone is set and adjusted for every called pitch he sees. If he has three at-bats in a game and saw a total of 10 called pitches, we will adjust the strike zone 10 times"). This seems very clear that it is only set for every called pitch. Is the guy jusy sloppy? If not, why is set after the pitch?
Finally, has anyone seen Questec track a pitch? Some of the tracking devices on TV are two dimensional. Obviously Questec has to be three dimensional. How does the viewing (if that is the right word) or grading done? Is the full tracking shown? Does it simply give a "in/out" determination? What is the criteria for determining if a pitch is in or out of the strike zone? I doubt a person looks at each pitch individually because that would bring in the human element to the grading system, but how is a strike/ball determined? Can anyone help me out here?