Everyone from known MLB journalists to casual fans to the respective dugouts of the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs seemed to have a bone to pick with Doug Eddings on Saturday afternoon. Eddings had the home plate assignment calling balls and strikes for the matinee, and made some head-scratching calls to say the least, calling several outside pitches that looked like clear balls as strikes.
Jon Heyman quote-Tweeted David Kaplan's complaint about Eddings, going so far as to suggest that Eddings and umpires making similarly bad calls should be replaced by robo-umps . Quite a brazen critique.
Jesse Rogers noted that the reaction from the Cubs dugout in particular was bold and loud. In one instance, Eddings called a third strike on Kyle Tucker on a possible check swing without consulting with the base umpire.
Here are some of the calls in question and reactions from fans online:
We've all had a bad day at work. Having to face a very public forum of critique can't be easy for anyone, umpires included, but the expectation for the highest level of the game to make reliable and high-quality calls is reasonable.
During spring training, MLB tested ABS, which allows batters and pitchers to challenge balls/strikes and gets instant feedback from the league's automated system. Over half of the challenges resulted in an overturn of the original home plate call according to the league's report. Generally, it was a well-received system that didn't do away with home plate umpires entirely, but allowed for some checks and balances. It may be used in the regular season in the future but is not in use this year.
