In case you haven’t been paying much attention to the World Series, Game 2 on Saturday night ended with a little bit of controversy. Yandy Diaz of the Rays was up with two outs in the ninth inning with the tying run on third base. Diaz worked the count full before Brewers’ pitcher Aaron Ashby threw a curveball in the dirt that Diaz checked his swing on. Home plate umpire Jim Wolf ruled it a ball, but Milwaukee catcher William Contreras called for a review from first base umpire James Hoye who determined
that Diaz did indeed go around for the strike out, ending the game with Tampa Bay going down 0-2 in the series.
The MLB rulebook does not officially define what a swing is, rather leaving it up to the judgement of the umpires to rule on whether a hitter offered at a pitch. Because of this, any two people can look at this Diaz incident and have differing opinions on whether it was a swing or not. In a world where many parts of the game are now reviewable with the help of technology, check swing incidents stand out as something that is still entirely reliant upon the umpires on the field.
That may not be the case much longer though. Earlier this year, MLB began testing check swing challenges in the minor leagues two years after doing so in the Arizona Fall League. This process follows the one that the new automated balls and strikes system underwent before it was officially brought to the major leagues. Therefore, it’s not hard to see that the check swing challenge is likely going to be coming to the majors soon as well.
If the aforementioned Diaz play was able to be challenged, it would not have been ruled a swing under the system currently in use in the minor leagues.
No replay system is perfect, but so far, it’s hard to argue against the efficiency of the ABS now that it’s been implemented in MLB. Would the automated check swing system bring similar results or would it cause unintended consequences?
So, should check swing calls be reviewable? What is your judgment on the Diaz play? What do you think about the system being tested in the minor leagues?
