MLB fans shouldn’t feel sorry for umpires complaining about the ABS system

As the automated ball-strike challenge system settles in and becomes a routine part of Major League Baseball games, umpires are trying to make themselves out to be the victims.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal wrote on Wednesday that some umpires are “quietly stewing” because they believe fans are holding them to a “near-impossible standard.” According to Rosenthal, both the league and the umpires’ union do not want umpires publicly sharing their feelings on the ABS system.

Rosenthal’s story follows comments that several retired umpires, including Richie Garcia and Ted Barrett, made ahead of Opening Day. Garcia, who was involved in multiple blown postseason calls during his career, falsely claimed that “some computer geek that knows nothing about baseball” is the one determining balls and strikes. Much like a 2–2 pitch in the seventh inning of a close game, the umpires are blowing this call, too, because they seemingly don’t understand exactly why ABS exists.

Umpires are unjustified in complaining about the ABS system

I cannot stress enough the importance of reiterating that the umpires agreed to the ABS system. This was not a unilateral rule change made by the league without approval from umpires, players, or owners.

Simply put, this all reads like umpires are sensitive about finally, officially being held accountable for poor performances. We’ve already had X accounts like Umpire Scorecards and Umpire Auditor tracking just how badly the likes of CB Bucknor and Laz Díaz are behind the plate.

When he spoke with Rosenthal, MLB executive Michael Hill praised the umpires for correctly calling a league-record 93.5% of ball-strike calls thus far, up from 92.7% last year. Unfortunately for Hill, that was the wrong move for two reasons:

• Hill unintentionally reminded fans that umpires missed over 7% of ball-strike calls last year. That’s not exactly encouraging.
• According to Umpire Scorecards, qualified umpires — which we’ve defined as umpires who called at least 20 games behind the plate last year — averaged roughly a 94.2% accuracy rate last season.

Everyone is prone to mistakes, though there are far greater expectations — and far less room for error — in certain positions. Hill just told fans that the league is happy with a ball-strike accuracy rating below 93%. Why would any fan be pleased with those numbers?

The umpires’ frustration is more reason for MLB to have the ABS determine all balls and strikes

If the umpires are so upset by the ABS challenge system, then they should push Major League Baseball to literally take balls and strikes out of their hands. Rosenthal said the umpires feel like they are being held to a “near-impossible standard.” If that’s the case, then it makes far more sense to have ABS call balls and strikes.

Such a move wouldn’t be without precedent. The KBO League in South Korea adopted the full-time ABS model last year, with technology determining all balls and strikes. That’d be an easy way to keep fans happy, at least until a borderline pitch costs them a run.

Ironically, Major League Baseball and the umpires’ union are actually hurting the umpires and making them even more unsympathetic, because they’re not allowed to defend or explain themselves.

By no means am I suggesting that umpires speaking out should sway fans to turn on the ABS system. However, it’d be refreshing to hear active umpires, especially those with decades of experience, try to argue why they’re so frustrated with fans and the rule changes.

Instead, we’re left with unnamed sources and retired umpires, all of whom would have immensely benefited from the modern system. As was the case throughout their careers, they’re making the wrong call, not even one that ABS could fix.

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