Coming (sort of) soon to a game near you: Robo-Ump!!

[Frayed Knot]

"Computer plate umpires could be called up to the major leagues at some point during the next five seasons.

Umpires agreed to cooperate with Major League Baseball in the development and testing of an automated ball-strike system as part of a five-year labor contract announced Saturday, two people familiar

with the deal told https://apnews.com/d8760e52b8ced5b8436c60891ea6e877The Associated Press."





Other bits of tid from the AP "exclusive":

- MLB has discussed installing the system at the Class A Florida State League for 2020. If that test goes well, the computer umps could be used at Triple-A in 2021 as bugs are dealt with prior to a big league callup.



- It is not clear whether the Major League Baseball Players Association would need to approve computerized ball and strikes. “We are aware the umpires and MLB are in negotiations over a new CBA,” said players'

union head Tony Clark, a former All-Star first baseman. “MLB will have their negotiation with them, and they will need to discuss with us.”



- Several AFL prospects [where the system has been used] praised 'TrackMan' for calls on the inside and outside corners but said it struggled with breaking balls low or high around the strike zone.

[MFS62]

I'm in favor of anything that will get Angel Hernandez out of baseball.

Later

[kcmets]

"Hey TrackMan, your mama was an analog transistor you blind bastard!"

[MFS62]

"Hey TrackMan, your mama was an analog transistor you blind bastard!"

Bring back the BOC for that one. I did laugh out loud.

Later

[bmfc1]

Good. Some are worse than others but all of them are horrible. There are 4 to 6 of them on the field and they still require help to get the calls right. Human error is for the players not the arbiters. F the umps and the system that empowers the continued employment of Angel Hernandez and CB Bucknor. I'm done for now.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Considering this move came with cooperation of the Umpires Local, it's not a thing that is going to get rid of Angel Hernandez, at least not any faster than retirement

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, this anti-ump sentiment is a bit misplaced as not a whole lot is going to change here.

I've been for this simply because for 150 years, the best method for determining Ball and Strike calls has been the trained man standing behind the catcher. But it's the 21st century now and I don't think

that's the case anymore. It's just too tough for the human eye to judge pitches that are just hitting (or not) the "corners" of a not-marked box while dipping and diving at 100 mph

I believe the more egregious acts of umps during the '90s openly admitting, if not bragging about, the fact that they set their own strike zone have been over for a while now. But even in the couple of

quotes from AFL'ers in the AP piece liked the idea of greater consistency, presumably both between umps and by one ump within a single game.



So, between this news and the Cohen/Wilpon news of a couple of weeks ago, we can slightly alter THE WHO's lyric to: So you think '25 is going to be a good year?







Our original Robo-Ump thread (much of it me yapping): http://archives.thecranepool.net/24800/f1_t24819.shtmlhttp://archives.thecranepool.net/24800/f1_t24819.shtml

[bmfc1]

The umps won't be fired, of course, but they can stay busy putting rosin on their balls.