Calling out the umpires: Software aims to take subjectivity out of the strike zone

摘要

If you're a baseball fan, you've no doubt told yourself a time or two that you could do a better job than the home-plate umpire, but can a computer? Sports -technology company QuesTec Inc (www. questec.com) has developed a system that is already giving umpires a run for their money. In 2001, the company entered a five-year agreement with Major League Baseball to install, operate, and maintain its UIS (Umpire Information System) in every Major League ballpark. Today, the system has found a home in 13 parks. By next season, it could be in all of them. The company maintains that it does not intend for the technology to replace umpires but rather to help them improve their performance. Major League Baseball hopes that the system will also aid its effort to standardize and tighten the size of the strike zone, which in recent years has shifted lower and further outside home plate. The UIS is a more accurate and advanced version of QuesTec's PitchTrax system, which you may recognize from Fox baseball broadcasts.