2009 Umpire Report Card
When it comes to baseball totals, a number of bettors are interested in who is behind home plate. Some umpires are known to have large strike zones, while others have the reputation as being more friendly towards hitters.
While I personally don't give a lot of credence to umpires, primarily due to the year-to-year fluctuations that occur, there are plenty of sports bettors who do, so we'll look at which umpires have been the biggest over and umpires so far during the 2009 season.
We'll concentrate on umpires who have had a minimum of 10 home plate appearances and pushes are omitted.
Following are the number of times each umpire has seen his games go over the total, followed by the number of times his games have gone under the total.
Over Umpires:
1. Eric Cooper 13-6 68.4%2. Randy Marsh 12-6 66.7%
3. Tim McCelland 12-6 66.7%
4. Laz Diaz 11-6 64.7%
5. Jeff Nelson 10-6 62.5%
6. Jim Reynolds 8-5 61.5%
7. Jerry Meals 11-7 61.1%
7. Dale Scott 11-7 61.1%
7. Lance Barksdale 11-7 61.1%
10. Bruce Dreckman 9-6 60%
Under Umpires
1. Andy Fletcher 3-14 17.6%2. Scott Barry 5-14 26.3%
3. Brian Runge 5-12 29.4%
3. Brian Gorman 5-12 29.4%
5. Ron Kulpa 3-7 30%
5. John Hirschbeck 6-14 30%
7. Bill Miller 6-13 31.6%
8. Ted Barrett 6-12 33.3%
8. Charlie Reliford 6-12 33.3%
8. James Hoye 7-14 33.3%
It's interesting to note there are only 10 umpires who have seen 60-percent or more of their games go over the total, while there are 16 umpires who have seen 60-percent of more of their games go under the total.
So far this season, betting under the total has been the way to go, as just nine teams (Angels, Cleveland, Yankees, Florida, Arizona, San Diego, Baltimore, Dodgers, and Brewers) have seen more than 50-percent of their games go over the total.
Topping the list are the Angels, who have gone over the total 56.8-percent of the time. At the other end, Texas, known to be a high-scoring team with no pitching, has managed to go over the total just 38.8-percent of the time.
