Max Scherzer Suggests A Revolutionary Solution To The Growing MLB Umpire Problem

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Texas Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer has suggested a excellent solution to the problem Major League Baseball has been having with its umpires: relegation.

Following his first rehab start against the Salt Lake Bees on Wednesday in Round Rock, Scherzer told the assembled media, “We need to rank the umpires. Let the electronic strike zone rank the umpires. We need to have a conversation about the bottom — let’s call it 10%, whatever you want to declare the bottom is — and talk about relegating those umpires to the minor leagues.”

Also of note, Max Scherzer pitched on Wednesday under Minor League Baseball’s automated balls and strikes system, but he doesn’t want to get rid of the human element completely.

“I’m not really a fan. I want a human back there judging calls,” he said. “It seems too weird to have a robot calling the game.”

“I think when you talk to enough guys, we want the human element in the game,” Scherzer continued. “Human element in the game is good. And we need to keep that in baseball.”

While umpires would surely fight back against any idea like relegation, it would essentially be the same system that Major League Baseball players work under. If they don’t perform, they get sent down to the Minor Leagues or they get released.

And while umpires who work behind home plate are currently evaluated after every game, it doesn’t appear that regardless of whether they grade poorly there aren’t really any significant consequences (see Hernandez, Angel, et al).

As we have seen as recently as Wednesday, there is no foolproof system as replay was used in the Angels-Orioles game for the final play and the umpires still got it wrong.

However, there are ways to reduce the frequency with which umpires make the wrong calls. An automated balls and strikes system is one of them. And so is relegation.