“The hardest thing to do in baseball is to hit a round baseball with a round bat, squarely”
– Ted Williams

It’s astounding that a 30% success rate (.300 batting average) makes an elite and potential Hall of Fame player. For those not quick with math, that’s failing 70% of the time and still considered great. Chew on that!

Additionally, what we are seeing with the new automatic-ball-strike (ABS) rule, is that umpire calls have a contrasting success rate. If you take away all the swung-at pitches, and all the obvious pitches in the dirt/wide/high, and match with the one’s being challenged by ABS, umpires have about 70-80% correct calls.

So, while hitters are celebrated for succeeding 30% of the time, umpires are scrutinized for missing 20-30% of calls. That contrast is astounding. But I think it will eventually produce a better product in terms of watching MLB, and higher confidence in accuracy of calls.

Baseball is a helpful reminder for life that success isn’t just about performance but what gets measured. The scoreboard changes depending on what you are paying attention. So, let’s make sure we measure what matters for eternity.