MLB Umpires: Better or Worse?

Question

Are MLB umpires as a whole getting better at their job, or do you think they're getting worse, especially with the implementation of questec? Also, who do you think is the best/worst umpire in the league right now?

Answer 1

Last year was the worst year for umpiring that I can remember. Questioning balls & strikes as a fan is part of the game but when umps are so far off with them the commentators have to try to make excuses for them and when it's so bad with umpires missing Home Runs calls that Bud selig actually says he will consider INSTANT REPLAY, you know there's a problem. Just in watching RED SOX games this year there were sooo many bad calls that went for & against the SOX I can't even imagine how rampant it was in basball as a whole.
The worst umpire in basball is: CB Bucknor.
There are some other bad ones but Bucknor is always bad to the point where you can call him consistant.
One thing that was bothering me all season was when some umpires would stand on say the left side of the plate insted of right in the middle. Their perception of the right side is skewed and that always seems to rersult in bad calls on the right side for hitters. I can't see a reason why an umpire would want to limit his ability to see one side of the plate...I can't figure that one out.

Answer 2

Umpiring - and sports officiating overall - is on a general decline. Some has to do with lack of training, some with the changes in how the game is played, and still some by the athletes themselves. There are still many capable umpires in MLB, but the absolute worst are C.B. Bucknor and Derryl Cousins.

An additional note: find a supervisory position for Steve Palermo in Baseball Umpiring's hierarchy (near or at the top preferably!).

Answer 3

Personally I don't believe they are really any better or worse than they have been in the past (although you occasionally run into an umpire who doesn't know the rules) but the technology has surpassed them. We can now see the mistakes they made through endless replays, however we also get to see those close calls at first where we scream the umpires are blind only to get a replay that shows they were absolutely correct.

Answer 4

I've been watching baseball for over 40 years and umpiring has definitely gotten worse. Not only have their basic umpiring skills eroded, but a lot of them seem to be interested in putting on a show. They've forgotten that fans come to the ballpark to see baseball players, not umpires.

Answer 5

I think umps are getting a little worse now. I've never seen so many balls called strikes, sometimes the ball in the opposite batter's box and you dont need a replay to show it.

I also kno for a fact that certain hitters get certain calls. I've seen pitches that clearly crossed the plate while Jeter was in the box and the ump calls it ball but Bobby Abreu steps in the box and that same throw is a strike. What gives? Or even worse, different officiating for opposing teams.

I kno there's a level of human error in all officiating of sports and probably the most human error comes out in baseball but we should be progressing toward BETTER officiating, not worse.

Answer 6

I cant name names because they are only mentioned at 1 or 2 parts of the game. However I think they do a fair job overall so I'm in the middle on this one. But I do think technology has gotten to the point where we could put a sensor in the ball and on the bases and foul lines to record what is right or wrong and simply correct is as we need to w/o slowing the game down. Simply change it and have the announcers tell everyone why like in football.

Answer 7

Sandy Alderson was a pretty good hard-line administrator of the umpire pool. His successors have not been as firm on the quality of field arbitrating, and at times that quality has shown where it lacks. In particular, in the strike zone.

Put another no-nonsense, tough nut in charge of the umps and things would likely improve.

Answer 8

Worst:Angel Hernandez

Answer 9

I really do think they're worse. Sometimes they have grudges against the players and make stupid calls. Then when they know they made a mistake they don't admit it.