Posted on 07/30/2019 5:11:46 PM PDT by Jacquerie
In addition to letting players steal first base, the Atlantic League — which serves as a testing ground for Major League Baseball — has employed a number of different changes this season which could eventually be adopted by MLB.
One of them? Robotic umpires calling balls and strikes.
In every stadium of the eight-team Atlantic League, there is now a TrackMan device above home plate which uses 3-D Doppler radar to register balls and strikes. Once the radar decides whether a pitch is in or out of the strike zone, the device relays its decision via wifi to an iPhone that’s connected to a wired earbud in the umpire’s ear. As of now at least, a human is still the one signaling “ball” or “strike.”
After working the plate during a recent game between the Long Island Ducks and Somerset Patriots, umpire J.B. Torres said he agreed with all but six of the calls which were made on the 259 pitches that were thrown.
Following the game, Ducks manager Wally Backman predicted that MLB will adopt the system within five years, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“It’s going to happen,” he said. “There have been a few pitches that are questionable, but not as many as if it was a human. The machine is definitely going to be more right than they are.”
(Excerpt) Read more at insidehook.com ...
On Deck: Robot fans.
I wonder if Earl Weaver is somewhere smiling about this, lol.
lol
Kill the ‘Bot! Kill the ‘Bot!....oh wait!
Earl Weaver would just unplug the thing and kick dirt on it.
Soon to be followed by robot hitters. Turning sport into a video game.
So when a batter disputes the call, he’ll say the ump’s mother was a garbage disposal ?
Robot fans and stadium staff.
Virtualize the whole thing later.
Interesting. Thanks for posting. When Verlander was in Detroit, he was constantly getting squeezed by the umps. It was disgusting.
This should put more offense into the game because umps usually call the plate as if it’s 16 inches wide, or at least 14 to my observation.
I met umpire Bill Haller in the 70’s.
Around that same time, I met Billy Martin.
Why 5 yers? I watch the players not the umpires throwing the players out of the game. Their union is too strong.
Ya momma was a T-800! Obsolete technology!
What’s the point?
You could replace all the players with robots too.
Would result in 0.999 batting averages, 100 mph trips around the bases, games that would end at a pre-determined time because no “team” would ever accumulate 3 outs.
It’s about humans, not machines.
If these robot umpires are outfitted with a CIWS, it could get messy...
Yeah, even without ump crimping of strike zones for particular pitchers, it typically takes a trip through the batting order of both teams to figure the zone of each ump.
There goes the game!
Good point.
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