[DC 86]

I don't know how anyone - let alone a trained umpire - would call that a swing.  More fundamentally, you need more clarity on the check  swing rule.  IMO, you can't measure intent, so you should go with angle of bat over home plate.

It would be better for the rule book to be more explicit, but for several decades umpires have based checked swing calls on whether 1) the bat crossed the front of the plate, or 2) the batter broke his wrists. Precedent is abundantly clear.

After the game Morales (and the crew chief) essentially admitted that they blew the call. Morales said that in real time umpires don't have access to replay and multiple angles and said that "when it happened live I thought he went." When reporters asked if he had changed his mind after seeing a replay he hesitated and the crew chief interjected and said "he doesn't want to answer that." So there you have it.

[DC 86]

I don't know how anyone - let alone a trained umpire - would call that a swing.  More fundamentally, you need more clarity on the check  swing rule.  IMO, you can't measure intent, so you should go with angle of bat over home plate.

It would be better for the rule book to be more explicit, but for several decades umpires have based checked swing calls on whether 1) the bat crossed the front of the plate, or 2) the batter broke his wrists. Precedent is abundantly clear.

After the game Morales (and the crew chief) essentially admitted that they blew the call. Morales said that in real time umpires don't have access to replay and multiple angles and said that "when it happened live I thought he went." When reporters asked if he had changed his mind after seeing a replay he hesitated and the crew chief interjected and said "he doesn't want to answer that." So there you have it.