AAA teams to use the ABS (Automatic Balls Strike) system in 2023

[btdart20]

I'm fine with the idea of it.  I'd prefer an 'honest' game instead of the psychological 'deception' of framing to steal a strike based on how the umpire sees it.  And even some of those low/away pitches given to artists like Maddux.  

[accinfo]

I look at this as similar to professional tennis making the in/out line calls completely computer determined.  I know up and down parts of the strike zones are different batter to batter but not inside or outside.  It certainly eliminated arguing whether a ball was in and out in tennis.  Yes maybe I do miss John McEnroe yelling "you have got to be kidding me". LOL.

It does take away Adley's framing advantage but I feel it will just make him better at the other defensive skills he possess.  

[RZNJ]

It's worth it just to get rid of the silliness of the catcher moving his glove 9 inches after he catches the ball trying to steal a strike.  A strike should be a strike.  A ball should be a ball.

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

It's worth it just to get rid of the silliness of the catcher moving his glove 9 inches after he catches the ball trying to steal a strike.  A strike should be a strike.  A ball should be a ball.

And Umps shouldn't be the focus of the game.

[SteveA]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

And Umps shouldn't be the focus of the game.

Well, at least until we get used to them... the robot umps WILL be the focus of the game.

You think we spent a lot of time on here last year talking about how the Wall positively/negatively affected things?   You ain't seen nothin' yet!   [RIP Robbie Bachman]

[AlbNYfan]

Being a home plate umpire can be a tedious job. On an "easy" night he has 300 pitches, on a bad night, probably 400 plus. It seems to me that pitchers with good control can expand the strike zone over the course of a game and pitchers that are all over the place rarely get the close pitch. Likewise, batters with "good" eyes are given calls that free swingers aren't. It is going to be interesting. Some mention the difficulty in north and south, but, in addition it's where the ball crosses the plate and not where the catcher catches it. If a batter sits deep in the box a ball with a huge break could be a strike when it crosses the plate and be below the knee by the time it gets to the batter. Players, managers look for consistency in the calls. Robo ump should at least do that. Teams won't need to "scout" umps to know what a strike will look like tonight. I think, as mentioned here, that they may consider a challenge rule would be idiotic. I like some of the human element to the game, but a bad home plate umpire has too much control of the game.

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, AlbNYfan said:

Being a home plate umpire can be a tedious job. On an "easy" night he has 300 pitches, on a bad night, probably 400 plus. It seems to me that pitchers with good control can expand the strike zone over the course of a game and pitchers that are all over the place rarely get the close pitch. Likewise, batters with "good" eyes are given calls that free swingers aren't. It is going to be interesting. Some mention the difficulty in north and south, but, in addition it's where the ball crosses the plate and not where the catcher catches it. If a batter sits deep in the box a ball with a huge break could be a strike when it crosses the plate and be below the knee by the time it gets to the batter. Players, managers look for consistency in the calls. Robo ump should at least do that. Teams won't need to "scout" umps to know what a strike will look like tonight. I think, as mentioned here, that they may consider a challenge rule would be idiotic. I like some of the human element to the game, but a bad home plate umpire has too much control of the game.

What sold me 100% on an automated system was finding out that the probability of a particular pitch being called a ball or a strike was impacted by the count. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

31 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Well, at least until we get used to them... the robot umps WILL be the focus of the game.

You think we spent a lot of time on here last year talking about how the Wall positively/negatively affected things?   You ain't seen nothin' yet!   [RIP Robbie Bachman]

[Morgan423]

As always, I'm all for this unless they bungle it in a way where it's poorly implemented or is for some reason less accurate than human umpires. 

I know there's a camp of purists out there who mourn the death of pitch framing, but it's time to let pitchers and hitters alone determine the outcome, rather than umpires who often miss 10 - 15% of the calls for taken pitches thrown in a game.

Also, it represents the end of the expanding-or-shrinking-based-on-the-count strike zone as well.  Will be an interesting new era for sure.

[Morgan423]

Also to directly point out something in the article, they are going to test two different ways to deploy this.

The report indicated half the Triple-A games will use the full ABS <Automated Balls and Strikes> system for every pitch, and half will use a challenge system that MLB also could implement one day. Under that system teams get three challenges a game, for pitchers and hitters. They can challenge a called pitch and ABS will determine ball or strike. If the challenging team is correct, they retain that challenge. If not, they lose it and are down to two remaining.

And I'm thinking: why even bother with the appeals system?  If the robot ump is the ultimate authority, and the home plate umpire has the robot ump consistently relay calls to him within a second of each pitch arriving, why slow down the game with extra challenges?  And why even implement the automated system to begin with if you intend to still let human umps call 99% of the pitches?  That makes zero sense to me.

[Can_of_corn]

It looks like they are attempting to do this the right way.  I hope they delay implementation in the majors for as long as they have to in order to get it as close to 100℅ right as possible.

[CHIP]

5 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

I've always wondered that as well, especially since the knee is not always defined. Also, is the system going to call it by the strike zone definition in the rule book. 

"The Strike Zone is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the bottom of the knees. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball."

I saw a response on Steve's tweet about his story that linked a MLB article from the AAA game shown on MLB network with all the rule changes happening.  https://www.mlb.com/news/abs-system-pitch-timer-bigger-bases-tested-triple-a

There are several videos embedded in the article.  The best video on zone is just before the section on the Pitch Timer.

[CHIP]

I am a big fan of the ABS Challenge concept.  Get the 3 challenges (more if challenge is successful) so the Catcher Framing is still impactful but on the blatant bad calls early (or especially late) in the game.  This way, used wisely, the bad calls early in the game may not get challenged when score is 0-0 but late in a game or in critical situations, a bad call can impact the game more at that time.

Still brings value to framing/blocking/run control for catchers with defensive skill sets.

Really well done article here.  Very 'neutral' reporting with regard to the impact on play from the approach of the Challenge system.  Here is the article:  https://www.mlb.com/news/abs-system-pitch-timer-bigger-bases-tested-triple-a

Best section for me is:  

How it works: In the challenge system, the home-plate umpire calls balls and strikes in the traditional manner, but teams can appeal to the Hawk-Eye “robot ump” on certain calls they deem to be incorrect.

• Each club starts the game with three challenges.
• A correct challenge is retained; an incorrect challenge is lost.
• Challenges may only be made by the batter, the catcher or the pitcher (i.e., no help from the dugout).
• Challenges must be made immediately following the umpire’s call.

and the 

“It has a strategic element, and a lot of that falls on the players, which is interesting because you have to understand the game situation,” Epstein said. “Obviously, a pitch might be really important to you, but if it's a nothing-nothing game in the second inning, it's not quite as important as big picture of saving it for later in the game when you may really need it. It promotes a team approach with how you use your challenges and intelligent decision-making. And it also promotes accountability for the players on the field and for the umpires, as well.”

[E-D-D-I-E]

Home plate umpires have been terrible since the pillow went away. There is ZERO chance an umpire can see the outside corner, sitting on the inside, with Salvador Perez catching. It's not possible. 

I agree with many out here. Balls and strikes have been bad and the umpires have gotten lazy with challenges.

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, E-D-D-I-E said:

Home plate umpires have been terrible since the pillow went away. There is ZERO chance an umpire can see the outside corner, sitting on the inside, with Salvador Perez catching. It's not possible. 

I agree with many out here. Balls and strikes have been bad and the umpires have gotten lazy with challenges.

They were probably pretty bad before then as well but it is a lot easier to tell when they miss now.

It's really hard to do well.