Robot umps are here: What MLB players need to know to navigate ABS this spring
I forgot about this and now I am confused about it. I thought that the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) would be calling balls and strikes, period. There would still be a home plate umpire for other purposes but he would not be making balls and strikes calls.
Reading the article, however, I see that it's a challenge system?
Quote:
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The upcoming spring experiment will employ the “challenge” system, in which human umpires will still make the vast majority of calls themselves. Each team will start a game with two challenges it can issue to an umpire, who will then rely on the automated ball-strike system to review the pitch. A team keeps its challenge if it is successful.
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This sounds ridiculous. I can see the two challenges being used up in the first inning of every game.
This article also posits that the strike zone is going to change. That is, it's going to be rigidly enforced as the rectangle that it's supposed to be. "That strike zone called by human umpires in the big leagues may be a rectangle in theory — but it’s more like an oval in real life. That’s because many pitches up and in, or up and away, are not called strikes by human umps, even though they’re technically in the zone."
The author makes a few other points but none as strong as these two.