MLB players are afraid of the robot takeover too, evidently. While MLB has tested out the automated balls and strikes system in the minor leagues and in MLB spring training, it has yet to make an appearance in the regular season. If ABS were to ever be installed by MLB full-time, it would likely be as a challenge system – which is how it was utilized during spring training – rather than taking over for umpires full time. Even that, evidently, is too much for players to comprehend.
Per MLB Insider Bob Nightengale, the league has received feedback from its players, and it's the exact opposite of how most of the fanbase feels. "It looks like the ABS challenge system will be on hold for another year after feedback MLB received from players this spring. It will likely be implemented for 2027," Nightengale wrote.
MLB players make a huge mistake with ABS
First of all – huge yikes. Second, it's completely natural to want to keep the human element in the game. No one is trying to take that away, and the umpires union has far too much power to make that dystopia a reality anyway.
What makes the persistence of MLB players not to advance the game even more infuriating is that ABS was used on just 2.6 percent of pitches in spring training. For the most part, players, managers and umpires are fine with how the game is called. However, there are some late-inning situations in which being able to challenge a pitch would come in handy.
ABS spring training success ignored by MLB players
Also, per MLB, umpires got the majority of late-game calls right. This includes the decisions which were challenged by ABS – a system that slows the game down by roughly a few seconds, tops. "While players used their challenges consistently throughout games, overturn rates declined as the game went on. In the first three innings, 60% of challenged calls were overturned, compared to 51% in the fourth through sixth, 43% in the seventh and eighth and 46% in the ninth," MLB's study read.
The expansion of MLB's challenge system to include a limited number of ABS calls is inevitable. As much as the umpires and now players want to put it off until 2027, the sooner this technology is installed in MLB parks, the better. There will be a learning curve, no doubt, but it will also force bad umpires of the Angel Hernandez variety to improve.
All of us, including myself, are subject to performance reviews in our jobs. Umpires are no different.