‘We have an automated strike zone system that works,’ commissioner Rob Manfred said.
Rob Manfred, commissioner of Major League Baseball, informed ESPN that the Automated Strike Zone System will “certainly” be implemented in 2024. The ‘robot umpires’ may signal all balls and strikes before relaying the information to a plate umpire, or they may be a part of a replay review system that enables managers to contest calls. Manfred stated, “We have an automatic strike zone system that functions.
The remarks follow fan frustration over previous umpire errors, which included a nasty low strike error during a Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins game. “It’s enough already. Please send me robo umps “Jamal Spencer, the sports director for ABC in Grand Rapids, tweeted.
Enough is enough. Give me robo umps already https://t.co/Zsc8yBI9F4
— Jamal Spencer (@JamalSpencerTV) May 31, 2022
MLB has been experimenting with robo umps in minor league Atlantic Triple-A league since 2019. It uses a doppler radar system developed by TrackMan, best known for its golf speed measurement devices. The system works thusly, according to CBS: “Pitch gets thrown, TrackMan tracks and identifies the pitch’s location, phone tells umpire whether it’s a ball or strike, umpire physically makes the call behind the plate.”
In fairness to umpires, calling balls and strikes with 100 MPH fastballs and hard-breaking curveballs caught outside the zone is no easy feat. But that’s exactly why fans, pundits and the league itself thinks that machines should take the job, leaving the plate umpire to judge tags and other more subjective plays. Mechanical systems also made Atlantic league games mercifully shorter by a full nine minutes, according to MLB data.
Under baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement, the league has the right to change rules unilaterally, provided it gives the union a season’s notice. Manfred already said that such a system wouldn’t be brought in next year, as the new competition committee won’t have its first meeting until 2023. Once it does meet, though, the committee is very likely to approve the changes since it’s dominated by ownership, according to ESPN.
