4:06 PM
The robot umpires will be just one step away from the majors this season. Major League Baseball is expanding its strike zone experiment to Triple-A.
The Automated Ball-Strike system requires seasonal employees to operate it. MLB said it is looking for employees to operate the system for the Albuquerque, Charlotte, El Paso, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City Dodgers, Reno, Round Rock Express, Sacramento River Cats, Salt Lake Bees, Sugar Land, and Tacoma Rainiers.
The Atlantic League became the first American professional league to allow a computer to call balls and strikes at its All-Star Game in July of 2019. The system was used in the Arizona Fall League for top prospects, drawing complaints of its calls on breaking balls.
There was no minor league baseball in 2020 because of the Pandemic, and robot umps were used in eight of nine ballparks in the Low-A Southeast League.
The Major League Baseball Umpires Association agreed to cooperate and assist if the system is used at the major league level.
Chris Marinak, MLB's chief operations and strategy officer, said last March that it's hard to handicap if it's employed at the major league level.
The robot umpires will be used at some spring training ballparks in Florida, will remain at Low A Southeast and could be used outside of MLB.
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