The TrackMan system, which uses Doppler radar to determine whether a pitch has passed through the strike zone, made its professional debut last Wednesday in the Atlantic League's all-star game. MLB signed an agreement this spring with the independent league to have it road-test new technology and rules before they are implemented in the American and National leagues.
After plate umpire Brian deBrauwere received Trackman's determination in his earpiece (which was connected to an iPhone in his pocket), he would either "confirm or correct the program's decision", according to Deadspin's Gabe Fernandez.
CloseCallSports' YouTube channel compiled a highlight reel of the robot ump's calls. The system needs some fine-tuning, but this was only one game. If you remain ambivalent or are against robot umps, please remember that numerous blown calls by "the human element" alter the outcome of every single game, every single day.
Mark T. Williams, a professor of finance at Boston University, and a team of grad students analyzed nearly four million pitches over the course of the last 11 seasons.
Umpires make lots of errors. And what's interesting about this is not only that umpires make errors, but that they were consistently made. ... When it comes to the two strike bias – when a batter would have two strikes on them – umps were almost 30 percent likely to call a ball a strike. That was astounding to me, that umps would have such bias against the batter. [The highest error rates came from older, veteran umpires.]
The Atlantic League plans to install TrackMan in all eight of its ballparks in the coming weeks.
Baby steps, I guess, but I'm beyond cynical about how MLB, namely Manfred and Clark, are handling the whole thing. I already can guess the uproar the umps will put up. That it's such an obvious improvement for the game will get lost in the power struggles of wannabe oligarchs.
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