A radar device is seen on the roof behind home plate at PeoplesBank Park in third inning of the Atlantic League All Star Game Wed Jul 10, 2019 as a test for robot umpires (AP News photo)
MLB Robots are here for the All-Star Game!
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
This next Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Atlanta will feature, for the first time, the use of its robot technology for ball-strike challenges. This represents a significant step toward utilizing this technology for the 2026 season and will eventually replace all human umpires in the not-too-distant future.
In 2023, the overall umpire accuracy in calling balls and strikes was 92.8%, according to Statcast data. This marks a slight increase from 92.45% in 2022. In other words, Umpires on average miss a call roughly once every 3.6 plate appearances.
Robots are cheaper than humans: The average salary for a Major League Baseball (MLB) umpire today is approximately $150,000 to $450,000 per year, depending on experience and seniority. It is the most challenging job in baseball; you usually get a lot of abuse from players (but you have the power to expel a player from the field) and, of course, the public, who are usually not kind to umpires. And if a fan gets ‘real nasty in vocabulary,’ umpires have the right to ask for that fan to be removed, also when a fan interferes with the play on the field.
Although robots are knocking on the door in baseball, a famous umpiring school still operates in Florida. The Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School, located in Osmond Beach, provides training for aspiring umpires, featuring both classroom and on-field instruction.
Many of the graduates have gone on to work in Major League Baseball. They will probably go out of business when baseball implements total robotic control on the field of play. I would think humans still would be needed to supervise some of this robotic world of umpires, or perhaps not? Time will tell.
Some of us remember when each league, the American and National Leagues, had their umpires, from their founding (1901 for the AL and earlier for the NL), until 2000, when MLB merged the two leagues into a single, unified roster. During the 2024 regular season, 10.9% of called pitches in the strike zone were ruled balls, and 6.3% of called pitches outside of the strike zone were ruled strikes, according to MLB Statcast.
Major League Baseball is currently testing a challenge system with automated ball-strike calls during spring training, with the potential for regular-season implementation as early as next season (2026) if testing is successful.
This system, known as Automated Ball-Strike (ABS), enables teams to challenge balls and strikes, with the call then reviewed by the automated system. MLB has been experimenting with the automated ball-strike system in the minor leagues since 2019.
Robots are as American as Baseball: Joseph Engelberger was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1925. Joseph Engelberger is widely regarded as the “Father of Robotics.” While he didn’t invent the concept of a robot, he is credited with developing the first industrial robot in the United States, the Unimate, and co-founding Unimation, Inc., the first robotics company.
He collaborated with inventor George Devol, who held the patent for the robotic arm used in the Unimate. ‘ My Take: I am not a fan of robots in baseball, or anyplace else, for that matter, but I also do not like automobiles that drive by themselves, and all this automation we have today, were people go on vacation take two cell phones and a laptop and do not have time to smell the roses. For me, baseball was the most excellent game ever invented, but, as previously mentioned, everything changes, and time goes on. I am not against progress, but just like the famous quote, “sometimes the best trades in baseball are the ones you do not make,” I think of the past and still believe baseball was more enjoyable in the past, with less technology and more humanity. Quote; I never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight, yes. – Leo Durocher, Manager.
Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977 ending in 2024 (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of fame
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