The midsummer classic will be the first time automated technology is being made available to pitchers, catchers and batters to contest balls and strikes system, which has been in use in the minor leagues and during spring training but never implemented prior at a major league park.
It is technology with the capability of transforming the game, a mechanism that can potentially be eternal in one of the most mercurial aspects of a highly mercurial game: The shifting, temperamental strike zone that is put into operation by the all-too mortal home plate umpire.
Opposing pitchers are mostly unperturbed – at least in the early part of the game.
I do not intend to make use of them. I will likely not use them in the future. It is going to be up to the catcher to do that,” Tarik Skubal, the Detroit Tigers marquee game starter, who will be pitching on behalf of the American League, said. It is my way of thinking that anything is a strike until the umpire says it is a ball.
Paul Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates fireballer, who is to start this off, felt much the same way.
He said Monday that pitchers ultimately know that everything is a strike and when you go back and have a look at them it usually turns out to be two, three balls out. We should therefore not be the ones to be challenging it. I do like the human aspect of the game. I believe that it is one of those things where you sort of think that umpires are so good until they are not, and so I literally could not care either way about this, to be honest.”
As per MLB, the challenge system shall be having the same rules applied during spring training: Every team shall begin the game with two challenges and when the said team is determined to be correct, they will maintain their challenge. The pitcher, catcher and hitter are the only players who can challenge a call and the system comes into play when one of the aforementioned players taps the top of his cap or helmet twice.
The system was used when some of the best minor league prospects in the game played the Futures Game at Truist Park on Saturday. Whenever a player would dispute a call, play would be halted and everyone would gaze at the huge screen in the stadium towards the right centerfield game.
They would have a virtual simulation of the pitch, a strike zone and whatever technology to decide whether the ball was in or out of the box. The short break would then be followed by play.
It is not clear how the league will decide what those strike zones will be by each individual batter and that is something veteran Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw would like to know.
I had used it a couple of times on rehab starts. I like it, you know I think, I mean, it works, he responded to reporters on Monday. I simply do not really get how they have the box set up to the hitter because I believe that each of the different TVs or national streaming services have their own box. I just hope they can calculate that because Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve have to be different sized boxes so … I think they must have thought about that. I have not spoken to MLB on same, but so long as that gets worked out, I would think it would be fun.”
The most popular phrase that was mentioned on Monday, when talking about the technology was a legendary one in the baseball folklore: The human element.
It is also one thing that can make baseball just wonderfully flawed, in that there is nothing umpires can do but screw it up and give such a huge effect to the game. There is the Jim Joyce call that scored the batter safe and ruined the perfect game attempt by Armando Galarraga to Don Dekinger who called a ball a strike thus making the Texas Rangers the World Series in 1985, calling Kansas City Royals player Jorge Orta safe at first base despite replays proving otherwise. However, the experience turned out to be the catalyst in making the Royals gallop back to win the World Series championship rather than being the final straw in the St. Louis Cardinals World Series championship.
One of the quirks of baseball that makes the pastime of the nation what it is known as is known as the human element. It also happens to be something that most fans would prefer to cast into oblivion.
Atlanta Braves pitcher and current NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale said that he wants it to remain in the game.
Well, I like people, to be honest, and I like the human factor, you know? Similar to the reason why they need to ABS. It is still not a perfect system, I think, as he said. I like the old feel, the old style of doing it kind of.
