Major League Baseball will test its automated strike zone during select spring training games in Florida this year, although the system won’t actually be used to make official calls.
MLB first tested its camera-based computer system to call balls and strikes during Atlantic League games last season, and later in the Arizona Fall League. In those instances, TrackMan 3D Doppler radar was used to track each pitch to determine balls and strikes automatically. Calls were relayed via an earpiece to a human home-plate umpire.
“We will be running the automated balls and strikes system only in test mode but will not actually use it to call balls and strikes in spring training games,” MLB’s commissioner’s office said in a statement, according to the New York Post. “It will be available in nine spring training facilities for later use during the Florida State League season.”
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Earlier this week, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spoke about the automated strike in an interview with Fox Business. “We believe over the long haul it’s going to be more accurate. It will reduce controversy in the game and be good for the game,” he said. “The current strike zone design is actually three-dimensional, and a camera is better at calling a three-dimensional strike zone than the human eye.”
Manfred previously said in November that the electronic strike zone will be used in some minor league stadiums in 2020. In a statement released to ESPN on Wednesday, the MLB umpires’ union took a more apprehensive stance on the adaptation of a computerized system to call balls and strikes.
“We do not claim to be perfect and we work constantly to improve our performance. But no automated system will be perfect either, and we have concerns about potential fundamental changes to pitch-calling that will need to be accepted by both the players and the fans,” the statement read.
Last month, the umpires’ union and MLB struck a new five-year labor agreement. The deal confirmed that the umpires have agreed to cooperate with MLB if the league decides to implement an automated strike zone at the big-league level.
