Major League Baseball's (MLB) competition committee approved introducing the automated ball-strike system (ABS) on Tuesday. Thus begins the rapid descent of what we used to call America's "National Pastime" into something more resembling Eurotwinkie shuffelboard.
The system will initially work with both teams getting two "challenges" to a ball-strike call made by a human umpire. I say "initially" because, like replay in football, they will continue to expand situations in which the process of review can be used until they dispense with the human element altogether.
When a challenge is made, the umpire will review how the ABS made the call. If the challenge is successful, the team will not lose a challenge.
I doubt very much whether we'll see any more entertaining rhubarbs like this one. After all, how can you argue with an intelligent box?
“The previous rule changes that have been adopted by the Joint Competition Committee have had staying power and created momentum for the game,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “We used the same process with ABS that started with listening to fans, conducting extensive testing at the minor league level, and trying at every step to make the game better. Throughout this process, we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players.”
The game is already much less colorful than it was 20 years ago. It may be shorter than it was a decade ago, thanks to the advent of the "pitch clock," but only by about 20 minutes. The games are still 2.5 hours.
My two biggest beefs with the new rules are limiting the number of throws to first with a runner on, and placing a man on second base going into extra innings. Limiting throws to first eliminates some gamesmanship from the game. And don't even get me started about a phantom runner on second at the start of extra innings. How do you mark it on your scorecard? The guy does nothing to get on base and is credited with a run scored if he crosses the plate. Outrageous!
Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark asked a pertinent question: “Does there need to be some type of buffer-zone consideration?” Clark asked. “We haven’t even started talking about the strike zone itself, how that’s going to necessarily be measured.”
Manfred thinks these concerns are irrelevant.
“I don’t believe that technology supports the notion that you need a buffer zone,” he said. “To get into the idea that there’s something that is not a strike that you’re going to call a strike in a review system — I don’t know why I would want to do that.”
That's exactly what the ABS is going to do. After a review, something that is "not a strike" can be called a strike. What's Manfred talking about?
Indeed, MLB umpires all have a different concept of the strike zone. That nuance of the game is going to be eliminated to some extent with the ABS. Going along, and with the near certainty that the challenge system will be expanded, what will that do to the way umpires call non-challenged balls and strikes? Will star pitchers still get the benefit of the doubt? Will players who are known to have a good batting eye still catch a break from the umpire?
How do the players feel about the ABS?
“The vote of the players on the committee was not unanimous, which was reflective of the broad player sentiment,” the Players Association said in a statement on Tuesday.
“I would like to believe that at some point in time, when it’s represented to the committee and in front of players, and players offer input, that it’s actually listened to,” Clark said. “I still remain hopeful that that may be the case. But our guys do have a concern with that half-inch, what that might otherwise lead to.”
In spring training this year, 288 games were played with ABS and they saw an average of 4.1 challenges per game, the league said in its news release. Calls were overturned 52.2 percent of the time, and challenges added 13.8 per seconds on average. Catchers had the greatest success overturning pitches at 56 percent of the time, compared to 50 percent for hitters and 41 percent for pitchers.
Full counts prompted challenges in spring training more than any other count. Players challenged least often on 3-0. But the higher leverage the count, the less successful the challenges were.
The ABS system will expand, and when technology advances enough, umpires will be eliminated. I don't necessarily hate ABS; what it represents gives me pause and forces us to confront our limitations.
