Robot umpire hits grand slam during debut at MLB All-Star Game

Should umpires be updating their LinkedIn? By the looks of Tuesday’s Major League Baseball All-Star game in Atlanta, maybe so.

A robot umpire, powered by automated tech and employed for the first time at an MLB All-Star Game, helped reverse four ball/strike calls, the CBC reports. Only one appeal, by Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers, did not result in a changed call after input from the Automated Ball-Strike System.

“The ABS system powered by T-Mobile’s 5G network utilizes the Hawk-Eye system to track a pitch’s trajectory and location to relay an immediate verdict on whether it was a ball or a strike,” the MLB notes.

According to the league, fans have been receptive to the tech intervention, which was introduced in the Minor Leagues in 2021 and Triple AAA games the following year. ABS rules allow each team two challenges to ball/strike calls by human umpires, with the team allowed to maintain their challenges if successful. Pitchers, catchers, and batters are the only players allowed to challenge an umpire’s decision, and appeals must be made immediately after the pitch.

The ABS abides by the MLB’s somewhat convoluted description of what constitutes a ball as opposed to a strike, calculating the player’s height and the strike zone width and depth.

Ahead of Tuesday’s game, which saw the National League overtake the American League thanks to a swing-off, MLB players voiced support for their robot judges.

“I did a few rehabs starts with it. I’m OK with it. I think it works,” Dodger Clayton Kershaw told the Associated Press of the ABS.