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Too bad Angel Hernandez is not active to be gloriously overruled.
We’re only one weekend in, but it’s safe to say baseball’s new automated ball-strike (ABS) system is a home run with players and fans. It’s also proving to be surprisingly good sports television.
Watching games this weekend, it was cool to see how the “Robo-Umps” injected new drama and surprise into the “Grand Old Game.” The double-tap to the head to initiate a review. The suspense waiting for the call. The roar of the crowds when the umps’ errors are exposed. The frustrated reaction by humiliated umps. It all made for some fascinating TV moments.
Take the Reds’ wild 6-5 win over the Red Sox in Cincinnati on Saturday. Ump C.B. Bucknor had no less than six—yes, six—calls overturned by the camera-based, 5G-enabled tracking system.
It was a rough day for the veteran Bucknor as both teams challenged him eight times. There was a great sequence in the sixth inning where Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez was at bat with the bases loaded and two outs while facing Red Sox hurler Ryan Watson. Bucknor punched Suarez out to end the inning via consecutive strike three calls. But with the fans cheering him on, Suarez successfully challenged both calls as Bucknor looked on in frustration. The crowd at Great American Ballpark went wild.
At that point, the Reds had already belted two home runs. But “the loudest cheers of the game,” noted Reds play-by-play announcer John Sadak, came after Suarez showed up Bucknor on the back-to-back blown calls.
As ESPN insiderJeff Passan wrote on X/Twitter: “There are moments that offer a pretty good sense that something new is going to work. This feels like one for ABS. The Cincinnati crowd’s reaction was thunderous. And the situation itself—twice it salvaged a bases-loaded opportunity. This system plays.”
Then there was Aaron Judge’s successful challenge during Opening Weekend. For years, the 6-foot-7 Yankees superstar has been victimized by low strike calls. Not anymore. During Friday’s Yankees-Giants contest, Judge successfully challenged a low strike thrown by Giants pitcher Robbie Ray. A few pitches later, Judge blasted a two-run home run. The Yankees beat the Giants 3-0. Given the number of times Judge has been rung up over the years on low strike calls, he could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the new system.
“You know what? He gets it right,” noted YES Network play-by-play announcer Michael Kay about the three-time MVP. “Reversed from a strike to a ball. One-tenth of an inch.”
When enraged Twins manager Derek Shelton became the first manager thrown out of a game over ABS, Orioles announcer Kevin Brown had an all-time call. “He’s arguing with the robots. You can’t defeat the robots!.”
For too long, some MLB umpires have run roughshod over the game with blown calls. Yes, they’re human. Sure, it’s a hard job. But too many umps enforced their own personal strike zones, rather than the strike zone. The result was a lower, wider zone that mostly eliminated the high strike. There was no way to hold rogue umps accountable
Now they’re on strict notice that they have to call the real strike zone or be embarrassed on TV and jeered in ballparks. Take the way Royals catcher Salvador Perez schooled ump Doug Eddings this weekend. Three times, Perez challenged him—and he was proven right every time.
The new ABS also raises the serious question of whether veteran hitters and catchers like Judge and Perez know the strike zone better than the umps. I think they do. After all, their livelihoods depend on it.
As noted by FOS’s Eric Fisher, a whopping 54% of early ABS challenges have been overturned. Dani Wexelman, the Cardinals’ studio host, tweeted some intriguing stats. Through Saturday, hitters went 26 for 57 on ABS challenges. Catchers did even better, going 40 for 63. In short, the ability to finally second-guess blown calls is reshaping MLB in real time.
Hasn’t baseball been talking for years about adding more offense? This is a great way to do it. Hitters called out on bad calls can get another chance rather than futilely arguing with an ump and sulking back to the dugout. That’s a win-win for fans and viewers. ABS might end up having a bigger impact on the sport than the pitch clock or bigger bases, notes The Athletic.
Meanwhile, intellectual baseball fans like George Will, who worship the sport as a quasi-religion, should also welcome the strategic element of ABS. When do you use your challenges? When do you save one in your back pocket against an umpire like Bucknor? If the now-retired Hernandez was widely seen as the worst ump in the game, Bucknor’s considered by many to be Hernandez 2.0.
To that end, Bill Simmons may have put it best, while also noting some of the unintentional consequences of the new technology.
“The Red Sox blew all their ABS challenges early against the always horrible CB Bucknor and now he’s running amok like Jason Voorhees,” The Ringer founder tweeted, “I like ABS. It’s a brand-new way to get aggravated during a baseball game.”
