Robot Umpire Called Up to Major League Baseball's Spring Training

Photo Courtesy of Gary Colorusso

CAROLINE MCCARTHY, HOST:

In baseball, the umpire has the final say on whether a player strikes out or not. Now, there’s a second umpire being added to the game–it’s called the Automated Ball-Strike system, or ABS. Major League Baseball is testing this robot umpire at this year’s spring training games. And as Hannah Lorenzo [Han-uh Luh-ren-zoh] reports, many teams, including the New York Yankees and Mets are now seeing the new computer umpire in action.

HANNAH LORENZO, BYLINE: The ABS system uses high-speed cameras to call balls and strikes, tracking the exact position of the ball as it crosses the plate. But ABS doesn’t replace the human umpire. Instead, teams use the robot as a backup in case a player wants to challenge a call.

Major League Baseball recently released a video, showing how the automated system worked in a game between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels.

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As the video starts the umpire stands behind the plate and makes his calls as usual. The Padres pitcher Omar Cruz winds up and throws.

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The Padres catcher Brett Sullivan taps his head–the signal that he wants to challenge the call of a ball. Each team is allowed two challenges per game. 

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On the giant screens above the stands, a computer rendering of the field appears. A virtual baseball flies from the pitcher’s mound, crosses the plate, and veers just to the right and out of the strike zone.

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In this case, with the verification of the ABS, the call of a ball stands. 

Gary Colorusso started umpiring in 2012. Today, he’s co-owner of Elite Baseball Umpires Association in Westchester County. He says this robot umpire takes the pressure off the human one.

GARY COLORUSSO: Because now you’re not the one making the decision. It’s a computer. So when a grown man argues with you about how could you call that a strike? Your answer would be, it’s not me, it’s the robot.

LORENZO: But, Colorusso says the ABS system isn’t perfect. It can make mistakes.    

COLORUSSO: There’s always going to be an error, whether it’s human error or a computer error. My Mac screws up sometimes every now and then. So I think the players, they want the human element involved. But I think when it comes to calling balls and strikes, I would probably put my money on a human being over a computer.

LORENZO: Joe Hili has umpired for twenty years. He’s also the owner and president of the Full Count Umpire Association, which trains new umpires to play for local leagues. He says most fans don’t realize how tough it is to be an umpire, masked up and standing at the plate.

JOE HILI: You could watch a baseball come at your face. Then you realize how good these guys are, that these umpires are behind the catcher. And the ball’s coming in at 95 miles an hour at their head, and they’re not flinching. They’re not blinking.

LORENZO: He says that umpires have to be kind of robotic themselves—focusing on the ball despite the distractions on and off the field.

HILI: Fans are yelling at you the whole time. And in the lower levels, the moms and dads are yelling at you, you know. So you know, you’re kind of taught to ignore everything around you.

LORENZO: Meanwhile, on the mound, Miles Kessler pitches for the New York University baseball team. As a “crafty lefty,” he says he’ll sometimes deliberately aim for the edge of the strike zone. 

MILES KESSLER: I kind of strategically place my pitches where they’re potentially called a strike or potentially swung at, but I don’t throw it necessarily in the zone all the time. Like I’m trying to feint the edge of the zone effectively and get the hitters off timing. With that, it’s really like you have to have finesse with it. Pitching to a real MLB zone with AI like, it would take away from kind of like the art of that craft.

LORENZO: Recently in a spring training game, the New York Yankees successfully challenged a strike call using the ABS system. But Joe Hili says in most games so far, teams haven’t used the system much.

HILI: If you look at like the Minor Leagues last year, those challenges are kind of being saved until the end of the game. So sometimes, they’re not even being used. Well, if you go to Yankee Stadium next month, and you’re watching a game with whoever they’re playing, you’re not going to see this in the first inning.

LORENZO: For now, teams are getting more familiar with the ABS system on the field. Major League Baseball says it’s still not clear whether the robot umpire will make its way to the regular season. After spring training is over, they’ll make that call later this month. Hannah Lorenzo, Columbia Radio News.