The Post-Gazette has a new article on "StrikeZone," which is that box on Pirates broadcasts that shows when a pitch is in the zone or not. It isn't a grand new piece of technology, but rather just something that a lot of baseball broadcasting channels were already doing. If Root (and for those of you not in the Pittsburgh area, that's the new name of FOX Sports Pittsburgh, and thus the new home of the Pirates and Penguins) has introduced anything new to the game, it's the station's groundbreaking philosophy about how a guy drawing on a Root Sports sign with a Sharpie is just as interesting as the game itself, or perhaps their unique Bottom Of The Escalator Cam, which shows fans leaving the stadium during the seventh inning of a blowout. (Okay, I made up the name of the camera. But Root actually did show fans waving at the camera as they climbed off the escalator to leave the stadium during the seventh inning of a game at PNC Park earlier this week.)
↵All snark aside, though, one thing this 'StrikeZone' has revealed is that the Pirates are pretty routinely being treated unfairly by umpires. It has been a useful tool to have during the broadcasts.