KBO said on the 15th, “We held an emergency meeting presided over by President Koo Young-yeon today and decided to exclude the three referees from their duties from today,” adding, “They will refer them to the HR committee according to the procedure.”
“We believe this case is very serious, and we will proceed with the disciplinary process strictly,” he added.
The KBO’s move follows the controversy over misjudgment that first erupted after the introduction of ABS (automatic pitching judgment system) in a game between the NC Dinos and the Samsung Lions at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 14th.
For now, the three judges cannot stand on the ground and wait for the personnel committee’s decision.
KBO said, “We decided to refer it to the HR committee, not the reward and punishment committee, because we judged that there was a part that could not be deliberated due to the bylaws of the league’s regulations,” adding, “We decided to exclude the job, not suspend the game because we thought it would be more appropriate for the personnel committee to deliberate on the final disciplinary action while excluding the job.”
In the game, referee Lee Min-ho was the head of the referee, and referees Moon Seung-hoon and Choo Pyeong-ho were the referee and the third base judge who could receive ABS strike and ball decisions through in-ear, respectively.
Referee Moon Seung-hoon shouted “ball” on NC starter Lee Jae-hak’s second fastball in the bottom of the third inning with two outs and first base in the bottom of the third inning with NC leading 1-0, and Samsung’s Lee Jae-hyun’s at-bat on the 14th.
However, ABS determined the ball to be a ‘strike’.
ABS, introduced by KBO this year, allows machines to determine “strike and ball” and delivers the results to the referee wearing “in-ear.”
Unless a ‘read error’ occurs, the referee shall follow the ABS’s decision.
Lee Jae-hak’s “2nd pitch” was determined by ABS as a “definite strike.” A KBO ABS situation room worker also heard the machine’s “strike call.”
However, referee Moon Seung-hoon made a ‘ball decision’.
NC, which confirmed that “Lee Jae-hak’s second pitch” passed through the strike zone through a dugout tablet PC that can confirm the ABS decision, protested to the judges.
It was already after Lee Jae-hak threw three more balls.
Four referees, including the referee and the referee, gathered to discuss whether to accept NC’s protest, and soon, referee Lee Min-ho took the microphone.
“The ball (Lee Jae-hak’s second pitch) that Kim Ji-chan pitched when he stole was delivered as a ‘ball’ by voice to the referee,” referee Lee Min-ho told fans. “However, after checking the ABS monitor, it was determined as a strike,” adding, “NC appealed, but due to regulations, we have to protest before the next pitch starts. After the ‘appeal prescription’ has passed, we will proceed according to the original trial (ball).”
Before the referee director publicly explained the “regulation,” the “quiet conversation” between the referees contained a different story.
During the four-trial agreement process, the referee told the referee, “Tell him the voice was clearly recognized as a ball. What we’re going to get out of…. That’s all I have to say,” was caught on TV.
Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, KBO confirmed the facts by asking the referees for a report and excluded them from their duties before taking final disciplinary action.
In the game, the referee lost a chance to make up for the mistake.
In addition to the referee, the ABS’s strike and ball judgment can be heard through the in-ear system.
If the referee did not hear the ABS’s decision properly, he could finish the decision without controversy if he checked with the third base umpire.
It is also a “normal manual” to check with the third base umpire if the referee did not hear ABS’s call for sure.
Even if he belatedly confirmed that the second pitch in question was ruled a strike, the incident could not have grown this much if the referee admitted his mistake.
However, the judges tried to cover up their mistakes and further aggravated the case.
KBO believes that there is a bigger problem in the “conversation of controversy after the misjudgment” than the “misjudgment,” and is looking into the incident.
Problems such as being able to check the trajectory of the ball more than 20 seconds later after the referee’s decision in the dugout also caused KBO to worry.
KBO said, “We had an emergency ABS inspection meeting presided over by President Huh Gu-yeon,” and added, “We decided to strengthen the manual so that ABS field personnel can actively intervene in the event of confusion in receiving strike and ball decisions by the primary or third base judges.”
“In the dugout of both teams, we decided to deploy voice receiver equipment as soon as possible so that we can receive strike and ball judgments at the same time as the referee and the third base umpire,” he said.
BY: 스포츠토토핫