Like any baseball fan, I've had my share of bad calls over the years. The current replay system is working well confirming or reversing a bad call. The next step is to use robots to call balls and strikes. Count me out on that. I want that man behind the catcher even if they blow a pitch here and there.

The latest on the "robots" is that they are not coming soon. This is the story:

Even though the writing is on the wall, for better and more likely for worse during the adjustment period directly after robo umps are introduced, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said earlier this week that robot home plate umpires are unlikely for 2025 due to “technical issues” that have cropped up. “We haven’t made as much progress in the minor leagues this year as we sort of hoped at this point. I think it’s becoming more and more likely that this will not be a go for ’25,” Manfred said.

According to Manfred, a big issue with the automatic ball-strike system, or ABS for short, is what shape the system would be programmed to recognize as the strike zone. “The shape of the strike zone, we have not started those conversations [with players] because we haven’t settled on what we think about it,” Manfred said. “Hard to have those conversations before you know what you’re thinking."

Recognize the strike zone? My guess is that the robot will call strikes like crazy and favor the pitchers. The signal, or whatever it uses, will call anything that smells the strike zone. It will kill the "guy with a good eye" who keeps taking that walk on a close 3-2 pitch. It will also force batters to swing at any pitch with two strikes. Who is going their use eye and take the close pitch?

A compromise may be to give each batter or pitcher one opportunity to review a pitch. I can accept that, but just as a way of keeping those robots connected to home plate away from the game.

Technology is a good thing until it turns everything into a computer game.

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Image: US Navy