ABSTRACT
The story of catcher framing ability in sabermetrics is an interesting one. Historically, scouts and coaches insisted that certain catchers had the ability to “frame” pitches for umpires. This issue is a nice parable in that it illustrates how sabermetric thinking can change based on the availability of data and the sophistication of modeling techniques, as well as how the game on the field can change due to sabermetric insights. Contrary to what the rulebook states, it stands to reason that the effective strike zone may depend on with which hand the pitcher throws, and on which side of the plate the batter stands. Unfortunately, new data are not present in the pitch table. One criticism of the first model is that no allowances were made for the pitcher or batter, and it is believed that both people have an impact on the probability of a called strike.
