Atlanta Braves projected pitchers vs the NLDS umpiring crew
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves fans know Sam “infield fly in medium left-field” Holbrook, but what else do we know about the announced crew?
Jake told provided us a list of the umpires for the series Monday. Thanks to Close Call Sports, today we know the crew rotation and experience level that the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals will get to call their games.
Pat Hoberg calls balls and strikes for Dallas Keuchel and Miles Mikolas in game one; it’s his first division series appearance.
Alan Porter gets the first base job in game one and home plate duties for Mike Foltynewicz in game two. Expect Jack Flaherty to go for the Cardinals.
Crew Chief Holbrook, calls second base in game one and home plate for Mike Soroka in game three, and Jim Wolf calls third base in game one and balls and strikes for Max Fried in game four… if needed of course.
Should a game five be required, Tom Hallion would call that game for a pitcher to be determined.
Atlanta Braves NLDS umps in-depth (sort of)
Close Call also provided information on instant replay review affirmation percentages (RAP) for each umpire on the UEFL List of 96 umpires
- Sam Holbrook ranks #15 with 11 of 16 upheld – 65.8%
- Tom Hallion ranks #24 with 10 of 16 calls upheld – 62.5%
- Alan Porter ranks #28 with 6 of 10 upheld – 60%
- Jim Wolf ranks #48 with 8 of 15 upheld 53.3%
- Ed Hickox ranks #55 with 10 of 20 calls upheld – 50%
- Pat Hoberg ranks #68 with 5 of 11 upheld 45.5%
Balls and strikes are always a hot topic, and while Twitter may disagree, umpires accuracy rates improved this season.
Statistics reported by Close call Sports show that “ejections spiked drastically in 2019” (217 vs. 179 in 2018). That’s more than at any time since replay started and ranks seventh all-time with over half of those ejections (133) came as a result of ball and strike calls.
"Of these 133 ejections, the umpire’s call was correct 96 times, incorrect 33 times, and could not be conclusively categorized as correct or incorrect on four occasions (i.e., the computer malfunctioned, generally failing to track the pitch entirely), corresponding to a Quality Of Correctness [QOC] — Correct percentage of 74%. In 2018, umpires were 65% accurate on the 95 ball/strike calls that led to ejection, while in 2017, that figure was just 54% over 101 calls . . . The method of ball/strike QOC evaluation remained constant in all three years . . ."