Major changes coming to baseball seem like a yearly occurrence nowadays. We’ve seen changes to doubleheaders, extra innings, pace of play, shift setups, and more. It feels like baseball has tipped its hand, emphasizing the fan experience by streamlining games to promote continuous action.
Yesterday, MLB furthered themselves down this path with the official announcement of the implementation of the Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS) in MLB games beginning next season. This won’t be as stark a change as some may think–the system has been tested in the minor leagues for years, and MLB players were introduced to ABS during Spring Training and the All Star Game this season.
If you’ve ever watched professional tennis or have been watching NFL football, you’ll know this isn’t the first time a league has incorporated technology like this. Let’s take a look at what exactly the ABS system is before I give my analysis.
What is the ABS system?
MLB’s press release explains the details:
“The ABS Challenge System runs on a 5G private network from T-Mobile for Business’ Advanced Network Solutions. Twelve (12) Hawk-Eye cameras set up around the perimeter of the field track the location of each pitch. If a pitcher, catcher, or batter disagrees with the umpire’s initial call of ball or strike, he can request a challenge by immediately tapping on his hat or helmet and vocalizing a challenge. The pitch location is compared to the batter’s strike zone, and if any part of the ball touches any part of the strike zone, the pitch will be considered a strike. The home plate umpire will announce the challenge to the fans in the ballpark and a graphic showing the outcome of the challenge will be displayed on the scoreboard and broadcast. The entire process takes approximately 15 seconds.”
Essentially, baseball wants those directly involved in the at-bat to be able to follow their intuition, or what they perceived in the moment, and challenge a call made by the home plate umpire. For those that have watched baseball extensively over the years, there’s a good chance you can conjure up a moment where a hitter or pitcher was given (or not given) a call. This system aims to increase the accuracy of the game of baseball. What’s more is the fans and players find out at the same moment on the big screen, and the challenge is short in length.
There are rules of the challenge system, of course, according to MLB:
“Each club will start the game with two challenges, and all successful challenges are retained. Only the pitcher, catcher or batter may challenge an umpire’s call of ball or strike. Challenges must be requested immediately after the call, and players may not receive help from the coaching staff, other players, or anyone else. In each extra inning, a team will be awarded a challenge if it has none remaining entering the inning.”
Two challenges is not a large number, and teams should learn soon how important it will be to be sure that a challenge is made for a good reason. Keep in mind, hundreds of pitches are thrown a game. Another big note: the coaching staff and other players won’t be able to assist in the calling of a challenge, while challenges can only be made by the pitcher, catcher or hitter. This should provide an interesting perspective on things.
My Take on the ABS System
I think the ABS system is good for the game of baseball.
It’s a poorly kept secret that umpires have been the centerpieces of some of the game’s most controversial moments. Balls and strikes provide by far the most occurrences of this. In one 9-inning baseball game, we are likely to see multiple instances of missed calls going the way of the hitter or the pitcher. A 1-1 count becoming 1-2 or 2-1 dramatically changes the way each player approaches the rest of the at-bat, and when the pitch to get to that count is questionable or flat out wrong, it can be head-scratching and frustrating.
The challenge will add another mini game within the traditional 9-inning game. There will be strategy as to when to use a challenge, likely taking into account all context like score, game leverage, count, who the pitcher and hitter are, and more. Certain players will be given more of a green light than others. Although coaching staffs can’t directly call a challenge, they can bar certain players from using a critical game asset. Above all, it will be fun for the fan. Imagine being in an MLB stadium or watching on television and everyone, including the players, get to see the correct call on the big screen at the same time! That sounds electric.
From a business perspective, I believe it’s improving the product of baseball. Traditional baseball people will scoff and wonder where their game has gone and is going to, but the truth is, things change–and America’s Pastime is no exception.
I think it’s important to understand as well that this ABS Challenge System wasn’t always going to be a challenge system. There was always talk of robot umpires, completely removing a central tenet of the game of baseball for good: human umpires. This ABS Challenge System upholds that. We’re not extinguishing the human part of the game. Pitchers must still pitch to an umpire’s personal strike zone, but at critical times of the game and of the season, hitters, pitchers and catchers will be able to rely on their feel and their expertise to challenge a call. Hitters with a good feel for the strike zone will be rewarded for their discipline. Pitchers with the ability to paint the corners will be rewarded for their location. It’s too often that they are not and are at the mercy of a pair of human eyes behind the plate. This doesn’t remove that, but it helps the product of baseball for both the players, as well as the fans.
There are numbers that explain how often pitches have been challenged and how successful each position has been (catchers are most successful with challenges) in MLB Spring Training and in the minor league testing, but we won’t be certain of its effect until it’s deployed in real games. What we can be certain of is that people are talking about it, people care. That is a huge win for baseball, who as little as a few years ago struggled mightily with viewership problems that almost made the league lose its prestige. It’s going to be fascinating to see what comes of the implementation next season, and how the numbers change as a result.
Inner Half 