Carlos Correa floats idea to end wave of missed calls by referees

MLB

By Caroline McCarthy

Carlos Correa is fed up with missed calls from MLB umpires.

After his Twins’ 3-2 loss to the Guardians on Friday, which came after several borderline calls from behind the plate by home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz, Correa expressed support for an interesting idea to help those who call balls and strikeouts.

Correa said he thinks umpires should wear PitchCom devices like pitchers and catchers use to relay pitch calls during a plate appearance, so they know in advance what pitches are coming .

“I feel like the pitchers are too bad right now for the umpires to see. I feel like if the refs knew what was going to happen and they had a PitchCom, they would make their calls a lot better,” Correa told reporters after the loss, according to the Associated Press.

PitchCom, in Correa’s mind, would allow umpires to listen and prepare mentally and visually for each pitch.

From the start of the 2023 season through the start of Saturday’s action, umpires correctly made 92.7% of ball-strike calls, but only 58.5% of “corner” throws were called accurately, according to CBS Sports.

“It’s really hard for them to just be able to call the throws, especially with the way the receivers are framing these days,” Correa added. “If they had a device that said cursor and they anticipated the cursor and knew where it had to start and land for it to be a strike, then we would get so many calls.

“But the fact that they are there blind, it’s really hard. I just think their job is too hard for me to be hard on them. Sometimes I get calls, sometimes I don’t and you move on.

With umpires in the crosshairs seemingly on a regular basis, The Post’s Jon Heyman opined this month that now is the time for MLB to introduce an automated ball-strike system (ABS).

The system was implemented at select Triple-A parks in 2022 and across the board last year.

But for now, MLB still has the old-school system in place for calling balls and strikes.