In this episode, we continue the conversation about youth baseball and get Nathan Bliss’ input on umpiring. Is it headed for a change? Does it need to change? Will parents be able to handle a missed strike call if there’s no home plate umpire?

We also discuss the parallels we see with sports and business. Those skills athletes learn as a teammate just might be the same ones they lean on as adults working on a team. (Spoiler alert — they are!)

Enjoy this episode and other episodes of Hustle and Pro in our archives.

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Show Notes:

[00:35 ] Umpiring & Technology

[07:53 ] Coaching as it relates to business strategy

[14:02 ] Shifting to Little Elm

[16:12 ] Red Raiders!

Resources within this episode: 

• Nathan Bliss:  Twitter @Nathan_Bliss  | LinkedIn


• Kelly Walker: Bio | Instagram @kelly_walkertexas |  Twitter: @kelly_walker_TX

Transcript (Machine-generated):

Welcome to Hustle & Pro. I’m your host, Kelly Walker. We have Nathan Bliss back again for another episode. So, our previous episode, we were talking about youth baseball in Dallas, the Dallas area and parenting and tournament culture, and so much more. And we have more to get to. So let’s jump into Part 2 with Nathan Bliss. Alright. So, Nathan Bliss, we are in the middle of a discussion about youth baseball and, um, we’re continuing that on. But, what I want to ask you, we were talking about change and tournament structure and league in the last episode. And now I want to ask you about umpiring and sort of where we sit in that ’cause I also feel like change is on the horizon there, maybe. So what are you seeing as a, uh, majors coach? At the 13-year level, what are you seeing out there on umpiring?

Yeah, I see, um, this is a passionate topic for me cause I’m a technologist by trade. So I’m a, I’m a vice-president of sales and marketing in the software industry. You know, in my background, I have seen software’s ability and positive impact to impact a lot of different industries. And I think we see this at scale happening in baseball right now. One of my favorite companies is Rapsodo. Um, I mean you are seeing fundamental pervasive change at the, at the professional level happening with the optimization of pitching so much so that I don’t know how many professional Chicago Cubs hitters right now are hitting over 200. Like, that 10, 15, 20 years ago would have been unheard of. And, and a lot of what has happened is everything is so dialed in and so optimized in a way that software has clearly made an impact there. Well, I read about the sport just like you do. And we know that an electronic strike zone is probably at this point an inevitable outcome at the professional level. So yeah.

Yeah, it’s moving, it’s been moving there for, I don’t know what five, six, seven years, like, tracking.

Right. If you’ve visioned this forward, you know, I’ve talked to people at Rapsodo and other, uh, organizations, just because I have a, an interest in software and an interest in baseball. I’ve asked them if they’ve thought that this is coming to the youth level and unequivocally the answer is “absolutely.” And I would say being in the metroplex that I think it’s needed. And, and why would I say that? We have, we have difficult- and I know there are well-meaning organizations that love baseball that are passionate about the game and want to see it grow that run umpire organizations that it’s a supply-and-demand thing at some point, you know, because it’s difficult to find enough staff to be able to permeate all of the, all of the games happening in the metroplex. Yeah. So if there was a way to supplement that through technology, I think that’s an interesting idea.

How much supplementing? Like what can you, what do you not have a home-plate umpire? The way that I think- is extreme, I get the calling balls and I get a strike zone. I get that. But I mean, yeah. What do you see that moving to?

I think there will be a way. If somebody were to ask me to make a prediction about what that will look like in 10 years, let’s say. I think that you could have, let’s say an individual official, let’s say station behind the pitcher that has like a supplemental camera system that’s calling balls and strikes. So, if that’s happening that individual could be relayed, you know, through a camera system installed at a facility, if a pitch is a ball or a strike. And I would argue pretty accurately with the ability, the technology’s ability to determine a ball and strike, it’s going to be pretty accurate in a way that almost makes it difficult to be argued against if it is a ball or strike.

But it has to be real time to relay and “Oh, you don’t want to slow anything down.” Right. So, has to be the technology has to be able to do it in real enough time where it’s like, oh, you know, just like a normal human reaction would be. That’s right. It could be faster, but to get it back, to get the information back out loud to the catcher, the pitcher, whoever how you know, that’s interesting. It’s like, how do you then relay what the technology says it was quickly enough for everybody to hear it move on to the next pitch?

Right? And if you’re familiar with technology like Rapsodo, or like, uh, for example, one training tool that we use in my home is a pitchLogic baseball, which is, has sensors inside of a baseball. And we know exactly every time it’s thrown stings that give us data, spin rate, spin access, the arm angle of the thrower and the miles per hour, the ball was thrown. Like, a lot of data. Right. And it’s all real time. So there will be ways to extrapolate out that information that is necessary for it to be real time. Now, versions of this will have to bubble up and there could be a different way to do it than what I’m describing. But the way I’m describing it, I think answers a lot of questions. Number one is, well, maybe you only need one official to control 8, 9, 10, 11 game, as opposed to 2. Uh, if you’re getting supplemental help on the balls in the strikes. Because then it’s there a petition behind the pitcher, for example, well then they can make those calls out in the field that are necessary as well.

Right. And then moreover, what I would say is this. This would be my advocacy element of this part of the conversation as well. It’s everybody, when they got to the ballpark just took a deep breath, I think it would help because these umpires are often committing long hours in a day. And I don’t know about you, but you know, at the end of an 8 or 10-hour long workday, I can get fatigued and I can get mentally fatigued. And make mistakes. Exactly. And that can often be the game, the way that things are currently structured that has most, let’s say gravitas to it or the most at stake, if you will. Yeah. So I try as much as I can to give the officials the, the benefit of the doubt. Now, if you see something that is consistent, I think it’s okay to ask a question. Sure. But sometimes the erosion of trust has happened between officials and coaches on both sides that I get met with contention if I just have a question. Um, yeah, exactly. So I think that there, there are ways that we could go about this that are, that are better. And if everybody just takes a step back for a moment and something that seems really, really big on Sunday, maybe doesn’t feel the same way on Tuesday afternoon when you’re back at your office working. So, that’s another thing I would say.

And, you know, we are talking about youth baseball here. Yeah. This isn’t the pro leagues and everything’s going to be okay if there’s a missed call. It sucks, but it is sports. Every sport has them. Yeah. That’s exactly right. And very rarely is it the cause of a win or loss. It’s usually a small factor in the big picture. And I always tell my kids, if they walk off the field and blame one last thing I’m like, “but what about the first thing in the first inning when y’all made that error” or “this base ringer happened” or whatever, like there was, there’s always other things that could also change the game if we would have gone the other way and you know, it’s, it’s sports.

Exactly. But I think for some parents, it’s always easier for them to shift the blame on some other circumstance other than maybe taking