Rise of the Machines

With robot umpires seemingly destined to take over behind the plate, the game's framers are mourning the potential loss of a long-standing art

- Emma Baccellieri

CHARLIE GREENE TRIES to find something he can compare to what might soon happen to MLB catchers. He can't.

The Brewers' catching instructor reaches for a few analogies. This would be like telling a quarterback he can't make passes of over 50 yards, he says. It would be like telling a basketball player he can't dunk or take a three-pointer. But Greene knows these comparisons aren't quite right. Those are physical acts, and he is talking about something artistic, philosophical, almost existential. As the veteran coach sees it, this is not about placing artificial limits on talent or making the position harder. It's about taking away the heart of what it means to catch.

He is talking about an automated strike zone-a "robo ump." After experimenting with the technology in independent ball and across the minor leagues, MLB will use an automated zone in all 30 Triple A parks in 2023, meaning its introduction to the majors will likely follow. Nothing is official yet. But the men who relay signs know one when they see one.

The system can determine balls and strikes with optical tracking data-a perfect, or at least perfectly consistent, zone. (One version in Triple A will be a full robo ump, determining every pitch, while the other will be a challenge system like that of professional tennis, where a human umpire calls the zone, but each team has three challenges per game for computer review.) Some people welcome the efficiency and fairness of an automated ball-strike system (ABS).