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Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: SOOPOO

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: SOOPOO

I learned something today. I don’t like it. AT ALL. Giants killing Brewers. 13-3 in 8th inning. Brewers use a position player to pitch. Pitch is thrown about a foot outside. Umpire calls it a strike. Easy challenge…. but….. apparently you are not allowed to challenge a strike call when a position player is on the mound! WTF! So MLB is basically saying the umpires can do whatever they want regardless of where the ball is thrown.

I think the team that is trying to put a non pitcher in to pitch should just forfeit.

Remember, there are live bets on over/under, how many hits a particular player will get, etc…
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I think that might have to do with the way the robo-ump looks at pitches. When position players pitch a lot of them are using lobs now and if they're a strike they are probably going to come down through the top of the strike zone, and it's unclear if the robot can see that and call it a strike. The strike zone is supposed to be a 3D object but on TV we see it as 2D and I think the robot might as well. As far as I know no pitcher uses a lob anymore and I don't think there are any active knuckleballers either.
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Nope. It’s clearly just to speed the game up. The robo ump can see where a 50mph pitch crosses the plate just as easily as a 100mph pitch. There are quite a few knuckleballers still active. I wouldn’t want to face Gerritt Cole’s knuckle curve. Or Nola. Matt Waldron throws a non curving knuckleball.
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OK, I haven't dived deep into the robo-umping. Not a fan of it really.

Knuckle curves are no relation to actual knuckleballs. The real knuckleball has no spin and you grip it kind of with your fingernails and the first knuckles of your fingers. They have to take obsessive care with their nails. The motion is kind of like flicking water at someone in the pool with your fingertips. I looked it up and yes Waldron throws one but as a change. Many of them threw the knuckleball exclusively and that was something they developed because they didn't have the velocity to throw an effective fastball, so they didn't try to throw anything else.

This all just came into my head because I seem to remember a position player going out there and throwing knuckleballs, years back.
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