Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 2: All right, it's the final game of the opening home
Speaker 2: stand for the Dodgers as they close out this series
Speaker 2: against the Guardians, and we're joined right now by thirty
Speaker 2: year Major League umpire now working for the umpire and
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball as an umpire observer. That's the one
Speaker 2: and only great Irish American, Brian Gorman. Brian, thanks a
Speaker 2: lot for the time. Appreciate it.
Speaker 3: I love being on your show.
Speaker 2: Oh well, you're the right guy to have around Dodgers
Speaker 2: Stadium these days. With this new ABS system. What has
Speaker 2: been from your standpoint in the umpire standpoint, how has
Speaker 2: it gone?
Speaker 3: Well, this is new for everybody.
Speaker 1: The guys I've talked to haven't been many, you know,
Speaker 1: during spring training and the last series in this series.
Speaker 1: Is that it's a little different. Parameters of the strike
Speaker 1: zone are a little different because of the new ABS
Speaker 1: system being based on the percentage of the player's height.
Speaker 1: Now juicy, just the midpoint between the the arm pit
Speaker 1: and the belt right now, it's the percentage of the height,
Speaker 1: and the umpires don't know how tall each guy is,
Speaker 1: so it's you know, fifty seven point five percent of
Speaker 1: the player's height on the upper end, twenty five percent
Speaker 1: on the lower end. So it's a little difficult. Plus
Speaker 1: it's they used to have a little buffer from in
Speaker 1: and out, like you know, the width of the plate.
Speaker 1: Now it's just the straight seventeen inches.
Speaker 3: So so the.
Speaker 1: Strike zone has changed a little bit in that sense
Speaker 1: that the parameters are a little different. That's why you're
Speaker 1: seeing some uh, some challenges and pitches missing by zero
Speaker 1: point three inches and things like that. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's technology and you can you got to keep up
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 2: Before we get into all that. You know, the umpires,
Speaker 2: you talk to them as they come through Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2: How are they handling all this?
Speaker 1: Well, that was their biggest uh. I wouldn't say complain,
Speaker 1: but that was their biggest worries that the parameters of
Speaker 1: the strike zone have changed.
Speaker 3: So they have to adapt to it.
Speaker 1: Eventually they'll get there, but you know, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: difficult to say, you know, fifty seven point five percent
Speaker 1: of your high when you're looking at a guy. You
Speaker 1: know that you have to be a math major figure
Speaker 1: out what the top of the zone is. So so
Speaker 1: that's going to be the adjustment. And you know, life
Speaker 1: full of adjustments when it comes to umpire, and so
Speaker 1: they'll I think they're doing pretty good when when you know,
Speaker 1: there's like five to maybe seven challenges of the game,
Speaker 1: and you get some of them right and some of
Speaker 1: them are just missing by point two point three point one.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, eventually, you know, come July
Speaker 1: there might be a little change, but who knows.
Speaker 2: Brian Gorman, former Major league umpire, is our guest now
Speaker 2: an umpire observer. This is the one point that we
Speaker 2: talked about during the offseason that all of us have
Speaker 2: not wrapped our head around completely. What is the strike
Speaker 2: zone for Freddie Freeman compared to the strike zone for
Speaker 2: Mookie Betts. Is it as exact as they want to
Speaker 2: make us believe.
Speaker 1: Well, based on a player's height is where they're coming
Speaker 1: from the top of zone, bottom of zone. The width
Speaker 1: stays the same for everybody, it's seventeen inches, But the
Speaker 1: taller player will have a high strike zone than the
Speaker 1: shorter player. The strike zone is based on his actual swing,
Speaker 1: so they've taken that into account. But a taller player
Speaker 1: will have a taller strike zone, yes, or a player
Speaker 1: will have a smaller strike zone.
Speaker 2: For example, Freddy Freeman standing straight up, his height is
Speaker 2: a lot different than what it is when he's in
Speaker 2: the batter's.
Speaker 3: Box, without question.
Speaker 1: And then when these swings had a pitch, a lot
Speaker 1: of guys crouch a little bit lower than other guys.
Speaker 1: But you know they've come up with this percentage, and
Speaker 1: you know they're going to go with it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, any chance that they tweak as the season goes on.
Speaker 1: They don't like to tweak during the season because that
Speaker 1: changes it as the season goes along.
Speaker 3: I think most tweaking will be done in the offseason.
Speaker 2: Okay, Brian Gorman is our guest. Now we've seen the
Speaker 2: first weekend of results of percentages of success. Not surprising
Speaker 2: catchers have had the highest success rate. Did that surprise
Speaker 2: you anything surprise you from the first weekend of the season.
Speaker 3: Not at all.
Speaker 1: Like a home plate umpire almost has the same view
Speaker 1: as the catcher. That's the best few you could possibly
Speaker 1: have with a pitch coming in. Hitters probably have the
Speaker 1: second best view, but they're looking at it from the
Speaker 1: side view, so that's difficult to figure out the outer
Speaker 1: and the upper and the inside pitch. Pitchers probably have
Speaker 1: the worst one because as soon as they release it,
Speaker 1: they think it's a strike. But that's why the success
Speaker 1: rate for catchers have been the best out of the
Speaker 1: three of them. And they're still wrong or right how
Speaker 1: you do it fifty percent of the time. So I
Speaker 1: heard the other fans said, you know, the umpire was
Speaker 1: so horrible, we ran out of the challenges in the
Speaker 1: third ending. I'm like, well, that doesn't make sense because
Speaker 1: he got it right. So that's the reason.
Speaker 3: Why you ran out of challenge.
Speaker 2: Is that's the flip side as well. Right, this may
Speaker 2: prove that umpires are really good at their job.
Speaker 1: Look at the figures. When you see point three percent this,
Speaker 1: I mean, nobody's that good. I can't tell the inside
Speaker 1: of the baseball as it's coming at me at eighty
Speaker 1: eight miles an hour, if it just nixed the inside
Speaker 1: of the corner, you know, you'd have to be a
Speaker 1: rocket scientist to figure that out.
Speaker 2: Brian Gorman is our guest, former thirty year Major league
Speaker 2: umpire and now an umpire observer. There was some controversy
Speaker 2: in a Twins Orioles game over the weekend. How tough
Speaker 2: is it for the home plate umpire to see the picture,
Speaker 2: actually tap their hat if they're the ones. Because there's
Speaker 2: so much going on. What is the kind of routine
Speaker 2: now that every umpire has to keep an eye on
Speaker 2: for the catcher and for the picture and for the
Speaker 2: hitter to tap their hat to signal a challenge.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the guideline is to tap your hat, but also
Speaker 1: give an audio will uh, you know.
Speaker 3: I'm challenging it.
Speaker 1: Picture's too far away so he can't you know, you
Speaker 1: really can't hear him. But and then the picture kind
Speaker 1: of fell up the mound a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: got his composure, then tapped his hat, So the picture
Speaker 1: is probably the hardest one. You know, batter just easily
Speaker 1: turns around, says you know, I'm challenging catchroll turn around
Speaker 1: and he's right in front of you, so you'll see
Speaker 1: him tap the hat. But they have to do it immediately.
Speaker 1: Everybody's saying two to three seconds, so they have to
Speaker 1: do it immediately after. If they don't do it immediately after,
Speaker 1: you're not going to accept the challenge. They don't want
Speaker 1: guys to looking to dug out and say challenge it.
Speaker 1: That's all reason behind that. But pitchers probably the hardest
Speaker 1: one because he's right at the end of his delivery,
Speaker 1: he sees the call, then you kind of have to
Speaker 1: give him a little time to get his composure to
Speaker 1: have his hat, and.
Speaker 2: The Dodgers have a team game plan to not allow
Speaker 2: their pictures to challenge. It's all on the catchers, specifically
Speaker 2: Will Smith, who's in there more than not for some
Speaker 2: of these reasons. Before I let you go, you're a
Speaker 2: fan of the game, you're a former Major League umpire.
Speaker 2: You've seen the way crowds here at Dodgers Stadium on
Speaker 2: this first homestand have reacted to seeing the pitch coming
Speaker 2: in and whether or not it hits the strike zone.
Speaker 2: What has been your reaction to the way fans react.
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of interesting because it really adds
Speaker 1: a whole nother lay of strategy involved. I mean, fans
Speaker 1: are gonna get met at the players for challenging, and
Speaker 1: then then they get met at players.
Speaker 3: For not challenging.
Speaker 1: So you know, if you have a situation and the
Speaker 1: first thing nobody on too outs and somebody challenges and
Speaker 1: loses it, you're gonna boom. I mean, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: watch that challenge would be lost because you might need it.
Speaker 1: The seventh any when you know, got a guy on
Speaker 1: second and third and one out. So so it's a
Speaker 1: whole another layer of strategy. And I've already seen you know,
Speaker 1: plans go I can't believe he did he didn't challenge it,
Speaker 1: or I can't believe he did challenge that one.
Speaker 3: So it's it's kind of fun in the sense that
Speaker 3: there's more strategy, no doubt.
Speaker 2: Hey, we're in the Tommy Lasorta part of the press box.
Speaker 2: I love hearing your stories about different managers. Do you
Speaker 2: have one story that sticks out about Tommy Lasorta. While
Speaker 2: you were umpiring, he was one of.
Speaker 3: My first ejections.
Speaker 1: He Uh, I was working the plate and uh, he
Speaker 1: did like a few pitches I called, and he looked.
Speaker 1: I looked over to him and he, you know, he
Speaker 1: held up two, and then, you know, a couple of
Speaker 1: pitches later, I looked over, he holds up three, like
Speaker 1: that how many he thinks I missed?
Speaker 3: So, you know, I ejected him.
Speaker 1: And then after the game, reading in the paper the
Speaker 1: other day, he said something like, oh, I really liked
Speaker 1: his dad.
Speaker 3: I'm not too crazy about his son. Belt.
Speaker 2: I wonder how Tommy Lasorda would react to the abs Oh.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't He would be having headaches, would he be
Speaker 1: pounding his head so much?
Speaker 2: Brian, thanks a lot for giving us some much needed
Speaker 2: insight on how this is working out with the ABS
Speaker 2: the first week of the opening series, and look forward
Speaker 2: to seeing you all season long. So thank you for
Speaker 2: the time being. I like you more than your dad
Speaker 2: or just as much.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much.