Computer to call balls and strikes in minor league
Computer to call balls and strikes in minor league
By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer March 8, 2019 5 p.m.
NEW YORK (AP) — Get ready for strikes by robots.
No, overworked machines aren't walking out in a labor
protest.
Computers will be used for ball/strike calls starting
April 25 in the independent Atlantic League, where the distance between home
and first will be shortened by 3 inches. The ground between the mound and home
plate will lengthen by 2 feet for the second half of the season beginning July
12.
The 60-foot-6-inch distance between the front of the
pitching rubber and the back point of home plate has been standard since 1893,
but Major League Baseball reached a three-year deal to experiment in the
Atlantic League, an eight-team circuit that occasionally produces big leaguers.
Infield defensive shifts will be limited. Pitchers there will have to get used
to 62 feet, 2 inches this summer.
"That'll make a bigger difference than the 3 inches
at first," New York Yankees first baseman Greg Bird said.
Plate umpires will wear earpieces and be informed of
ball/strike calls by a TrackMan computer system that uses Doppler radar. Umps
will have the ability to override the computer, which considers a pitch a
strike when the ball bounces and then crosses the zone. TrackMan also does not
evaluate check swings.
"The beauty of baseball is that it's not foolproof.
You've got to hit a round ball with a cylindrical bat square, and then you've
got to get it past people," said Joe West, who umpired his first big
league game in 1976. "The game is typically American. It's always somebody
else's fault when they lose — and usually it's us."
MLB has evaluated its umpires since first starting to
install a QuesTec system in 2001 that umpires initially criticized as being
inaccurate. Questec was used at a maximum of 11 ballparks in 2008, its final
year.
A PitchF/x system, a partnership of MLB Advanced Media
and Sportvision, was the basis of evaluations from 2009-16, and the TrackMan
system was tested during the final year of that span. TrackMan has been used to
evaluate umpires since 2017.
West, who has umpired more than 5,000 big league games
and is on track to break Bill Klem's record in 2020, said the 2016 test was far
from perfect.
"It missed 500 pitches in April, and when I say it
missed 500 pitches, that didn't mean they called them wrong. They didn't call
them at all," he said.
In addition, bases will become 18-inch squares in the
Atlantic League, up from the 15-inch squares that have been standard since
1877. That will in effect cut the distance from the front of home plate to the
front of first base from 87 feet, 9 inches to 87 feet 6 inches. The 90-foot measurement
between bases is from the back of the plate to the back corner of first and
third along the foul line.
While the distance between the mound and the plate will
be lengthened, the height will remain 10 inches — its level since 1969.
"Changing the distance, that seems a little odd to
me," Yankees manager Aaron Boon said. "I know lowering the mound is
an interesting one, obviously, something that would favor offense and maybe in
some level help with some pitching injuries."
Other changes for the season:
— Infield shifts will be restricted by requiring two
infielders to be on each side of second base when a pitcher releases his pitch.
Infielders also will be prohibited from setting up on the outfield grass.
— Each pitcher must face at least three batters or
complete the half-inning, unless injured.
— Between inning breaks will be cut from 2 minutes, 5
seconds to 1:45.
— Mound visits are banned, except for pitching changes or
medical issues.
Atlantic League teams are in Bridgewater, New Jersey;
Central Islip, New York; High Point, North Carolina; Lancaster, Pennsylvania;
New Britain, Connecticut; Sugar Land, Texas; Waldorf, Maryland; and York,
Pennsylvania.
Southern Maryland is at Sugar Land in the opener.
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