Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.
Question: How many times have the Orioles sacrifice bunted to move a runner into scoring position this year?. For that matter, how many times has any player bunted for a base hit? Maybe Hyde should’ve been playing small ball to get the offense going after the All-Star break, because Dr. Longball is out of the office! From: John Sybert, Pasadena, Maryland
Answer: Entering Monday night’s game, the Orioles had six sacrifice bunts, which is tied for second lowest in the majors. Cedric Mullins has bunted for a base hit three times and Jorge Mateo bunted for a hit once.
The sacrifice bunt has gone out of vogue. The average big league team has 13 sacrifices. The Arizona Diamondbacks lead baseball with 31.
Question: Do you think the uptick in pitch speeds and more curve to breaking balls has affected the ability of umpires to clearly see balls and strikes? Only elite players are able to hit well against the increasing fastball speed and are able to pick up rotation on breaking balls. Could this be a factor in the ability of umpires calling balls and strikes? Is this a case for having balls and strikes called by “robo umps”? From: Rich White
Answer: Rich, I don’t think umpiring is much worse than it’s been. I think technology is so good that the missed calls stand out much more than they have in the past.
Because of technology, the scrutiny of umpires is much more acute and blown calls are able to be recognized.
According to Umpscorecard.com, Derek Thomas has the highest percentage of accurate calls, 95.6 percent and CB Bucknor the lowest at 92 percent, and I think with a challenge system, similar to the one used in Triple-A weekend games, umpiring would improve. I’d like to see a challenge system used before considering robotic umpires.