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December 25, 2019

MLB's New Contract With Umpires Gives Possibility Of Automated Zone As Early As 2022

What a great Christmas present!

The Associated Press reports that robot umpires could be "called up to the major leagues at some point during the next five seasons".
Umpires agreed to cooperate with Major League Baseball in the development and testing of an automated ball-strike system as part of a five-year labor contract announced Saturday, two people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press. The Major League Baseball Umpires Association also agreed to cooperate and assist if commissioner Rob Manfred decides to utilize the system at the major league level. ...

The independent Atlantic League became the first American professional league to let a computer call balls and strikes at its all-star game on July 10. Plate umpire Brian deBrauwere wore an earpiece connected to an iPhone in his pocket and relayed the call upon receiving it from a TrackMan computer system that uses Doppler radar.

The Atlantic League experimented with the computer system during the second half of its season, and the Arizona Fall League of top prospects used it for a few dozen games this year at Salt River Fields.

MLB has discussed installing the system at the Class A Florida State League for 2020. If that test goes well, the computer umps could be used at Triple-A in 2021 as bugs are dealt with prior to a big league call-up. ...

3 comments:

  1. Joy and rapture!

    In unrelated news, today (26 December) marks 100 years to the day that the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. I wonder if there will be the lighting of candles and the exchange of gifts at the Dan Shaughnessy household tonight in reverent honor?

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  2. He will probably just burn a photo of the 2004 team and scream some obscenities into his pillow tonight.

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  3. Shaughnessy has moved on to other more vicious pursuits, like driving wedges between Sox players,fans, and HOF pitchers.He is actively on the lookout for the next cash cow

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