Pittsburgh Pirates: Team can Benefit from an Automated Strike Zone

The Pittsburgh Pirates have invested a lot of resources into their catching position. Could a rule change benefit them even more?

The Pittsburgh Pirates were having a decently active offseason heading into the month of December.  However, Major League Baseball has been in a lockout since the beginning of December.  Teams and players have essentially been at a standstill until the new agreement is reached between the Owners and the Player’s Union.

Since the lockout has started, there has not been a whole lot of momentum towards a deal.  The two sides have exchanged offers with a lot of different changes inside each proposal.  One of the major things that come out of CBA negotiations is rule changes.  For instance, the expectation is that there will be a Designated Hitter to the National League lineup.

Another rule change idea that has surfaced over the last few years is an automated strike zone. This idea has been kicked around more and more as a way to help with the consistency of the game.  Also, for a casual fan, it can simplify things a bit while watching.

However, this rule idea has been contested as well.  Baseball has always used a judgment strike zone based on what the zone is “supposed” to be.  Yet, we see too many times hitters get rung up on pitches outside of the “k-zone”.  As a fan, it is tough to sit there and watch the zone on a TV show one thing and the umpire call another.

Over the last few years, Major League Baseball has worked with other Leagues to test out the automated strike zone.  Now, they will bring it to MLB. They will test the automated strike zone at Triple-A this upcoming season.  For the Pittsburgh Pirates, this means that their Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis will be testing it out.

This is actually good news for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  When the team traded away Jacob Stallings the biggest complaint was giving up a talented defender.  Stallings is known as one of the best pitch framers in Baseball, but an automated strike zone makes framing irrelevant.  Obviously, this takes away from his value, so the team might have traded him at the right time.

The same can be said for 2021 first overall pick Henry Davis. Davis, a catcher out of Louisville, is known for his bat.  The thought is that he would be better served to move out from behind the dish to focus solely on hitting. After all, catchers spend a lot of time working with pitchers and on their craft behind the plate.

Now, the catching position will matter more for other parts of the game such as having a strong and accurate arm, and also the ability to block pitches.  These are all things that Davis excels at already, a bulk of his development behind the plate was going to learn to be a better pitch framer.  Now Davis can spend more time on progressing his offense, which after all is the reason he was considered the best college hitter in last year’s Draft class.