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Articles by Robot Umpires
With Spring Training Test of Automatic Ball/Strike Challenges, MLB Retains Human Element of Umpiring
About 4 minutes reading time. This is a test of the Automatic Ball/Strike Challenge System. This is only a test. Major League Baseball announced yesterday that 2025 Spring Training games played in 13 parks in Arizona and Florida will use HawkEye technology — the same system used to review line calls in tennis — to determine whether a pitch was a ball or strike when either the batter or the pitcher requests a review.
Baseball purists will be furious with MLB's latest tests during Spring Training
Baseball has already taken some great first steps towards not only speeding up the game but making its product more enjoyable for an increasingly younger audience consuming the sport. RELATED: Rob Manfred offers update on A's stadium in Las Vegas For the most part, MLB has seen great success with the pitch clock and bigger bases leading to more steals, but the sport's number one issue continues to be something that can be easily fixed by leaning into modern technology.
Robot Umpires Getting First MLB Test During Spring Training
About 6 minutes reading time. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A computerized system that calls balls and strikes is being tested during Major League Baseball spring training exhibition games starting Thursday after four years of experiments in the minor leagues. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is an advocate of the Automated Ball-Strike System, which potentially as early as 2026 could be used to aid MLB home plate umpires, but not replace them.
PITCHf/x: The Future for Umpires?
The future of umpiring, and sports officiating in general is turning a corner faster than anyone would expect. This past June, during an independent league game between the San Rafael Pacifics and Pittsburg Diamonds, Eric Byrnes, an MLB Network Analyst, crouched behind the plate in full umpire gear. He made the calls for the fans’ benefit, in typically gregarious fashion. The balls and strikes, however, were fed to him using PITCHf/x data.
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