Batters, pitchers and catchers can challenge a home plate umpire’s ball or strike call.
For now, the technology will be limited to the spring exhibition games.
But it could be implemented in the regular seasonas soon as 2026.
MLB’s automated ball-strike technology could be used in big league games as soon as 2026.
Count future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer among the skeptics.
“Can we just be judged by humans?”
Technological advances that lead to fairer, more accurate calls are often seen as triumphs.
He decided to double-check the same mistake wouldn’t happen again.
By 2006, professional tennis leagues began deploying Hawk-Eye to help officials adjudicate line calls.
And professional soccer leagues started using the technology in 2012 to determine whether balls cross the goal line.
Reaction to Hawk-Eye has been mixed.
In tennis, players, fans and broadcasters have generally embraced the technology.
During a challenge,spectators often claprhythmically in anticipation as the Hawk-Eye official cues up the replayed trajectory.
That day has now arrived."
But Hawk-Eye isn’t perfect.
Perfection isn’t possible
Critics have also raised more fundamental concerns.
Ultimately, there are no purely objective standards for fairness and accuracy in technological officiating.
They are always negotiated.
Even the most precise officiating innovations require human consensus to define and validate their role.
But they were forced to report a dead heat under the rules established by the ski federation.
One of the big issues with baseball’s automated ball-strike system has to do with the strike zone itself.
The interpretation of the strike zone is notoriously subjective andvaries with each umpire.
For example, human umpires often call a strike if the ball crosses the plate in the rear corner.
There are more complications.
Since every player has a unique height, each has a unique strike zone.
But what if a player changes their batting stance and decides to crouch?
What if they change their cleats and raise their strike zone by an extra quarter-inch?
And fans eagerly cheer or jeer players and managers who argue with the umpires.
When ejections take place, more yelling and taunting ensues.
But uneven access to the newest gear raised the specter of what some called “technological doping.”
The swimming federation ended up banning full-body swimsuits.
Of course, algorithmic officiating differs from technologies that enhance performance and speed.
But it runs a similar risk of turning off fans.
So MLB, like other sports leagues, is being thrust into the role of managing technological change.
Assessing technologies for theirimmediate and long-term impactis difficult enough for large government agencies.
MLB, to its credit, is proceeding incrementally.
The league’s challenge system is a test.
But the real umpires will ultimately be the fans.
