Checking MLB checked swings

Robots calling check swings is just better

Do the umpires calling batter checked swings bug you? It sure bugs me. When it comes to ‘did the batter swing or hold up before swinging?’ Check swings are the most judgement-y call in baseball and that goes for any level.

Sam Miller who writes the excellent ‘Pebble Hunting’ Substack wrote about checked swings a couple of years ago:

A STRIKE is a legal pitch when so called by the umpire, which: (a) Is struck at by the batter and is missed." Any guidelines you might think you know about bats crossing the plane of home plate or batters breaking their wrists are made up, unofficial at best. All the umpire is asked to consider is whether the batter struck at the ball, and to that we tend mostly to just lean on cultural expectations, which can change.

But there is a commonsense understanding of the phrase “struck at” that could lead you to conclude that nobody who checks a swing before the pitch arrives has actually struck at it. This is what Bobby Valentine believes, among other people:

“It’s the most argued call in baseball,” Valentine said. “A strike should be when you make a full swing and everything else is a ball. It will add offense to the game, which we need, anyway.”

Sam went on to ask the question ‘What if all checked swings were balls?’ Because obviously they aren’t all balls!

A refresher on batter’s checked swings

From Wikipedia:

Initially, the home plate umpire must determine if a swing was checked or not checked. If the umpire indicates that it was checked, an appeal can be made by the catcher or the manager, and the home plate umpire can then make a request to either the 1st or 3rd base umpire to make the call as to whether the swing was indeed checked. To maximize visibility, the 1st base umpire makes the call for right-handed batters, and the 3rd base umpire for left-handed batters. The umpire makes a "safe" gesture to indicate a checked swing or makes a clenched fist to indicate a full swing. However, if the home plate umpire initially indicates that the swing was not checked, no appeal can be made and attempts to protest the ruling can be seen as arguing with the umpire over strikes or balls.

Importantly, the Major League Baseball rulebook^[1] does not contain an official definition for either a checked swing or even a "swing" at all.^[2] In a game, it is solely the decision of the umpire as to whether an attempt was made or not. Generally, factors such as whether the bat passes the front of the plate may be considered in the ruling. Some umpires prefer to use the "breaking the wrists" criterion as the method to decide a checked swing: if the wrists "rolled over", a swing occurred. Matt Snyder of CBS Sports wrote in 2019:

Now, for decades and decades, fans, players, media, umpires alike have come to accept a general idea of what constitutes a swing ("did he go?"), but it's not defined in the rulebook. We can talk about breaking wrists or the head of the bat clearing home plate or the barrel passing by the front of the body, but all of these ideas came about through generally accepted word of mouth. None of them have ever been officially defined by Major League Baseball^[3].

MLB has been hands-off when it comes to meddling with checked swings

Since MLB prefers doing experiments in fall leagues and minor leagues, it’s odd that the Commissioner’s office has stood aside knowing full well that umpires calling of checked swings have been a mess, like, forever. With the advent of new technology that was tested only last October, Mets prospect Drew Gilbert appealed a check swing strike in an Arizona Fall League game and the strike call was overturned and he was awarded ball four. Thus, Gilbert became the first player to do that, and he ended up scoring a run, therefore it ‘mattered’, at least to the final score.

The video was interesting as there was a clear indication that the swing did NOT cross the plate. I don’t suspect the home plate umpire was upset that he was not allowed to make the call or ask the third base umpire – standing 100 feet away – for help. I can’t help but feel this is closer to a solution to codifying checked swings than anything before.

Automatic balls and strikes will be adopted in MLB mostly likely as part of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the players and owners. I don’t feel that all checked swings should be called balls. I do feel it would be good for baseball players and fans to have checked swings called using this new technology. Everyone playing by the same rules is always better.

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and now Substack.com.