Umpire Personalities Thread

[Blzer]

Thought we'd get this going a little bit. In my last few weeks of games in my franchise I've jotted down some very rough notes for the home plate umpires and how they've been calling taken pitches. I obviously want to clean this up at some point, and make sure that I get all of the umpires in here with every edge of the strike zone (I don't have much scouting at the top of the zone for any umpire), but for now this would be a good start.

I want everybody to contribute to this if possible, even if they are chicken scratch notes like I have. If you want to add-on/correct/confirm anything that I have, go ahead and report that as well. Eventually, we can get a nice spreadsheet for each umpire, and we can use it for our own games in the future.

The only real thing you have to make sure of is that umpires have different strike zones for both lefties and righties. Sometimes they are one the same (for instance, if an umpire squeezes both a lefty on the outside and a righty on the inside), but sometimes this just isn't the case. That said, when you notice something that's out of the ordinary, take note of whether a lefty or righty was batting.

Anyway, here we go...


Tom Reyburn

• Extremely inconsistent on the outside of the strike zone to lefties
• Calls strikes on the outside to righties
• Calls high strikes to both lefties and righties
• Squeezes pitchers on the bottom of the zone

Patrick Johnson

• Doesn't call inside on righties
• Squeezes pitchers on the inside/outside against lefties

Joe MacDonald

• Inconsistent to low pitches on lefties (squeeze)
• Often inconsistent on the outside to lefties
• Squeezes high pitches to lefties
• Will give pitchers some inside pitches to lefties, but often tight
• Inconsistent on the outside part of the zone to righties
• Calls strikes low to righties
• Inconsistent inside to righties

Kerwin Thompson

• Calls inside strikes on lefties
• Gives strikes against righties on the outside

Freddie Ferguson

• Rarely calls strikes inside on righties
• Inconsistent outside against righties
• Inconsistent outside against lefties
• Calls balls on high pitches in the zone to righties
• Sometimes misses calling the low strike

CB Hernandez

• Tight on outside to lefties
• Gives strikes to outside on righties
• Often pressing on the low strike on lefties and righties

Mike Winters

• Squeezes lefties on the outside
• Inconsistently tight on the inside against lefties (normally correct calls)
• Gives inside strikes against righties
• Gives leeway to pitchers on the bottom of the strike zone to righties (never pinches)
• Reputation for calling balls on the outside against righties

Woody Keller

• Doesn't call strikes on outside to righties
• Won't extend the zone on the inside to lefties
• Can take away strikes on the outside against lefties
• Can squeeze the inside on righties
• Won't give the low ball much against righties
• Will call high strikes against righties

[Heroesandvillains]

I just bookmarked this page on my iTouch to use as a reference tool while playing.

Man, the extent that I love this game cannot be healthy. But then again, I did not track these trends or start a thread on it.

Blzer, we need help. LOL!

Thanks for doing this man. The Show Wiki is blank on this subject. Nomo has some good stuff in regards to strike percentage too. Hopefully he can add it and maybe you can edit the first post to include his research.

[The Commish]

I would love to help, this is a pretty awesome idea. I just have a couple questions:

1. Call me an idiot, but what do you mean by "Squeezes" the pitcher? Is that where he doesn't call a strike a strike but a ball in that particular area?

2. I'm in the middle of my RTTS at the moment, Are you wanting those umpires as well?

[nomo17k]

Home Plate Ump   Strike %   Games  Total Pitches  Strikes   K/BB
----------------------------------------------------------------
Freddie Ferguson     63.1     28        8329       5252     2.21
Ricky Holliday       63.0     33        9585       6042     2.41
Patrick Johnson      62.9     25        7570       4761     2.10
Porter Callahan      62.8     26        8044       5050     2.40
Joe MacDonald        62.7     25        7302       4577     2.02
Earl Hendricks       62.6     28        8028       5029     2.27
CB Hernandez         62.6     24        7138       4468     1.95
Dutch Nelson         62.6     26        7554       4726     2.21
Clyde Washington     62.5     23        6672       4171     2.69
Earl Cooper          62.5     26        7876       4923     1.89
Woody Keller         62.5     25        7615       4756     2.40
Jeff Carlson         62.4     27        7993       4989     2.09
James Gibson         62.3     34       10462       6523     2.20
Mike Winters         62.3     30        8888       5538     1.89
Eric Summersgill     62.3     29        8130       5061     2.46
Tom Reyburn          62.2     29        8435       5249     2.33
Marvin Knight        62.2     25        7820       4865     1.92
Rusty Valentine      62.1     29        8248       5126     1.88
Kerwin Thompson      62.1     30        8702       5406     2.09
Wally Hughes         62.1     32        9332       5791     2.13

[Blzer]

That is awesome! Thanks!

By the way, I wanted to note that I am the Braves, so I might not get a few of the umpires on this list as they might only be in the AL. I don't know for sure, though.

[moemoe24]

I've not found that one ump is any different from the other. Seems to me they are all the same

[Blzer]

Quote: Originally Posted by moemoe24

I've not found that one ump is any different from the other. Seems to me they are all the same

Technically, it would be really weird if they were extremely different from one another... I mean there really should only be one kind of strike zone.

However, they do have tendencies, and you'll notice them if you read the report as you pitch with him back there.

[NAFBUC]

Quote: Originally Posted by moemoe24

I've not found that one ump is any different from the other. Seems to me they are all the same

What are your settings for umpires moemoe?

If you are using (variable?) not sure what the options are, but to say there is nothing different in the umpire strike zones is way off base. :0