NCAA OKs automated ball-strike system option for next season

[u/lowes18]

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/49725298/ncaa-oks-automated-ball-strike-system-option-next-season

[u/Beaux7]

SEC umps about to be embarrassed every night

[u/thejawa → u/Beaux7]

Don't worry, they can still fuck up check swings

[u/OcarinaNinja315 → u/Beaux7]

That's a funny way to spell Big Ten (assuming we actually add the tech)

[u/Beaux7 → u/OcarinaNinja315]

Yeah it could be every college umpire tbh but I just know the SEC will have it in every stadium first more than likely

[u/lostinthought15]

Honestly it’s probably for the best. It seems like it was quickly approved but without any actual implementation plan in place. Cart before horse if you will.

[u/CottonWasKing → u/lostinthought15]

I don’t love it personally. College should have a wider zone than the “strike zone” in my opinion. I know I’m likely the black sheep here but I like the game within the game of the pitcher finding the zone they can exploit and the hitter finding where the limit is at. I know it’s not “fair” but it is baseball. It’s a human game and I don’t like removing the human element from the strike zone.

[u/allahu_achoo → u/CottonWasKing]

When it was used in the SEC tournament they gave an inch on either side of the plate. Not sure if they expanded it vertically.

[u/wixthedog → u/allahu_achoo]

There is a 2” buffer built into the NCAA strike zone.

[u/bigpoppa85 → u/wixthedog]

From the info I pulled up, it’s the same as the MLB. 17” wide plate and if any part of the ball crosses in that, it’s a strike. I don’t see anything about a 2” buffer that’s different from MLB.

I’m not disagreeing with, only trying to educate myself. I didn’t watch the SEC tournament last year.

[u/lostinthought15 → u/bigpoppa85]

MLB uses Hawkeye which has a 1/6’ margin of error. How accurate is Trackman, which is the approved NCAA strike zone system.

[u/PenisChugger → u/allahu_achoo]

It was expanded a ton vertically. They need a tighter zone than what was used in the SECT

[u/CottonWasKing → u/allahu_achoo]

I, for obvious reasons, didn’t watch much of the SEC tourney this year. Good to know though.

[u/averyrose2010 → u/CottonWasKing]

I loved watching Arrambide challenging calls like crazy in the SEC tournament and winning. I'll miss that.

[u/wixthedog]

Making any tag play reviewable rather than just a tag play in the vicinity of a base is a big one.

The ABS system is still considered an experimental rule and will require conference adoption, which the SEC will definitely opt into.

[u/MrRoma → u/wixthedog]

Didn't realize this wasn't full adoption but merely a green light for the conference's to adopt it themselves. Will be interesting to see which conferences jump on board year 1. I doubt many mid majors are part of the initial push

[u/Sthrax]

I'm glad they are allowing it, as the implementation in the MLB works pretty well. But This seems like a in 2-3 seasons thing rather than upcoming season thing.

[u/That_Don_Guy_1 → u/Sthrax]

"Allowing" it - not "requiring" it. Even if they were to require it, the way the NCAA usually does things is, if it requires any sort of significant equipment change, Divisions II and III are given one year of warning so they can add it to their athletic budgets, while Division I schools/conferences are assumed to have something left over from their most recent basketball TV money payments, so they can afford to do it now.

[u/huskermut]

Good

[u/wcm48]

Nice

I’ve stopped even being mad at college umpiring, for the most part. The pitching and catching talent pool has so vastly gapped the umpire talent pool at this level. It’s almost not their fault.

Now, if they could handle it all with a modicum of humility, that’d be one thing. But that doesn’t seem to be an umpiring strong suit.

[u/lostinthought15 → u/wcm48]

Not to mention youth parents have basically ruined the entire umpire pipeline. There are no more “better umps” when there are barely enough umps.

[u/RJMcBug]

Glad to see this being allowed. I will be shocked to see this in Division 2 & 3 though. I assume it will take a few years for even all of Division 1 to be implemented.

[u/Status_Fox_1474 → u/RJMcBug]

D3 doesn’t even have visible clocks in many places, and d2 struggles to have mutiple.

I see no chance of them doing this.

[u/wixthedog → u/Status_Fox_1474]

It’s kind of surprising how many JuCo’s have it already. They moaned about double first bases and action clocks but were quick to get tracking.

[u/Status_Fox_1474 → u/wixthedog]

Not sure what juco you are talking about (honestly unsure, not snarky). But I do know there are a lot of them that are basically baseball factories for power 5

[u/wixthedog → u/Status_Fox_1474]

When you say a lot you are referring to about 5% of them in the big picture. D1 to D2 JuCo is a clear delineation of talent and funding in itself.

[u/Status_Fox_1474 → u/wixthedog]

Yeah. I think I should have said "a few" or "a bunch" but not "a lot."

[u/cardeez]

Jeff Head is in shambles

[u/PizzaPartyConor]

Getting the call right is always a good thing but they’ve gotta get the game time down a bit. Hoping these are MLB level quick and not another way of slowing the college game way down.

[u/RushianArt]

Hopefully it helps usher out framing.

[u/No_Communication1010]

Does this have to be conferences putting it in play or can a team put it in play without the conference. For example the Sun Belt: Coastal, USM, Troy, UL will 100% want this but I suspect non-baseball schools. JMU, App, Marshall will be less inclined to implement it. Will the schools that want it have it at home games but not necessarily at road games at certain schools

[u/lostinthought15 → u/No_Communication1010]

It will probably depend on the individual conferences and what they adopt. This basically means the conferences CAN use it.

[u/That_Don_Guy_1 → u/No_Communication1010]

Usually, "experimental" rules are on a conference-by-conference basis, so I am assuming each conference will decide whether to force all (or none) of its schools to implement, or let the schools decide on a case-by-case basis.

[u/Fit_Bench7754]

I'm interested to see how they do it at my D2 school I attend.

[u/tones_balonious]

Lame

[u/Remote-Annual-49]

POST THE GRAPHIC

[u/DiyYou]

https://giphy.com/gifs/LpkBAUDg53FI8xLmg1

[u/Respect38]

Goodness sake, if we have the technology then just get the calls right for every pitch. Challenge system << full ABS.