Tag: Alex Freedman

No, Robo Umps are NOT taking over baseball

I was listening to a late-night sports talk radio show recently when the host began talking excitedly about ‘robo umps’ coming to Major League Baseball. He was totally opposed to the concept because, as he said, ‘it takes the human element’ out of the game.

What?

In my mind I saw images of a menacing, out-of-control robot standing behind the catcher.

Turns out that Major League Baseball IS implementing the Automated Ball/Strike Challenge System in the 2026 season. But there’s no resemblance to a robo ump.

Yet, that’s how it’s presented by broadcasters and headline writers across the World Wide Web. I wince every time I hear or see the words ‘robo ump’ used to describe the new system because of how misleading it is.


A sample of ‘robo ump’ returns from a Google search

 

So, what is the Automated Ball/Strike Challenge System, also known as ABS, if it’s not a robotic replacement for home place umps?

If you’ve attended any OKC Comets games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark over the last couple of years, you’ve seen the ABS system in action. You may not even have noticed, because an umpire is still behind the plate calling every pitch.

However, each team can challenge two pitches per game, and then the ABS system takes over. Multiple cameras focused on home plate reveal whether the pitch crosses through the strike zone, and the results are shown on the park’s video board.

The whole process takes only a few seconds, is very low key, and the game quickly resumes. There are no hitters and catchers loudly complaining or angry managers charging home plate.

Don’t ask me how it works, because geometry is above my pay grade.

The MLB website offers up a good explanation of how the ABS Challenge System works. Here’s a quote from the article: 

“The ABS Challenge System monitors the exact location of each pitch, relative to the specific batter’s zone. Players can request a challenge of a ball or strike call they feel the umpire got wrong, and, when they do, a graphic displaying the result is then transmitted over a 5G network from T-Mobile’s Advanced Network Solutions and nearly instantaneously shown to those in attendance via the videoboard and to home viewers via the broadcast.”

The MLB article goes on to describe the ABS System as a way to ensure calls are correct while keeping the human element.

“The Challenge System is seen as a way to get more of the most important calls correct without dramatically altering the sport overnight. It is a middle ground between full ABS and tradition,” MLB says in the article.

When MLB implementation of the ABS Challenge System was made last September, Alex Freedman, Broadcaster/Communications Director the OKC Comets, tweeted his support of the technology. He’s seen every Comets game in which it has been used, so he would be aware of any potential glitches.

“I’ve been a fan of the challenge system since it’s been implemented in Triple-A. Among players and coaches, it’s not unanimously loved, but the large majority likes it,” Freedman said on his X (formerly Twitter) feed.

I discussed my disdain of the term ‘robo ump’ to describe the ABS System on the most recent 3 Old Geezers podcast in which I participate. My fellow geezers scoffed at my dislike of the term, saying it’s no big deal.

Ed Godfrey said he objects more to the ‘ghost runner’ used in extra innings, but that argument can wait for another day.

Ed also reminded me that a ‘Robo Niner’ mascot once roamed All Sports Stadium back when the team was known at the 89ers.

So, call me the Robo Ump Police then, because I hate the term.

Here’s what Dan Patrick, my favorite sports broadcasting host, had to say about the ABS System and the way it’s been described on the Dan Patrick radio show, which is also simulcast on the Peacock Network:

“You still have to have an umpire. There’s not going to be a robot out there. It’s not going to be a robot; it’s going to be automated balls and strikes. Everybody thinks (it’s) like that Fox football robot’s out there.”

Yep, that’s how it’s presented in countless headlines and on sport talk shows. Go ahead and do a Google search for ‘robo ump,’ and see the dozens of headlines and videos proclaiming the coming of the robot

Well, it’s not. But the robo ump hype and hysteria is real, even if the robots are not.

Fun at the ol’ ballyard with game on the clock

Altuve
That’s Houston Astros star Jose´ Altuve batting for Sugar Land against the OKC Dodgers on Friday night.

I saw something Friday evening at an Oklahoma City Dodgers game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark that I’ve never witnessed before: A 9-inning professional baseball game played in 2 hours and 14 minutes.

And it was a fun, action-filled game between the Dodgers and the Sugar Land Space Cowboys that was won by OKC 3-2.

Thanks to new rules that mandate no more than 14 seconds between pitches — 18 if runners are on base — the game moved incredibly fast.

There seemed to be no complaints by players or managers over the mandated fast pace. However, there appeared to be a Sugar Land player called out at one point because he wasn’t ready for the pitch in time.

I was able to witness the Dodgers game thanks to my friend Steve Buck and two of his children. Steve had an extra ticket and invited me at the last minute.

Bucks
Steve Buck, along with Kenzy and Isaiah Buck at the Dodgers game Friday.

We had a blast and got to see the most exciting play in baseball — a triple — hit by Dodgers outfielder Drew Avans. The next time up Avans surprised the Space Cowboys by laying down a bunt and getting an easy single out of it.

We saw OKC’s Jake Lamb hit a 2-run home run in the third inning. We saw future baseball hall of famer José Altuve bat for Sugar Land on a rehab assignment. Altuve got a couple of singles, but also was called out on strikes.

Steve and I began to notice the incredible pace of the game after about three innings, which had taken maybe 40 minutes of playing time. We were headed into the fifth when the game reached an hour of playing time.

We saw three OKC pitchers hold Sugar Land to only single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, and nothing more. Then we watched Sugar Land’s Zac Rosscup shut down the Dodgers over the last 1.2 inning and noted that Rosscup has not given up a single run this season over 9 innings. Nothing but zeros.

We celebrated the seventh inning stretch by singing badly, then Googling the history of the seventh inning stretch because we wanted to know how it started. If you must know, it was started by President William Howard Taft at a game in Pittsburgh in 1910.

You can look it up yourself.

Even though we were tracking the swift pace of the game, the final three outs came so quickly in the 9th it caught us by surprise. We headed to our cars at 9:19 pm on a game that started at 7:05.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat through games that started at 7:05 and by 10 pm were only in the 7th or 8th innings.

It was a refreshing change, and appears to be more than a short-term trend.

FreedmanFor reference, here’s an article I found that shows just how much the pitch clock has impacted the length of games throughout the minor leagues.

Dodgers radio announcer and communications director Alex Freedman later tweeted that the Dodgers and Sugar Land games averaged — AVERAGED — 3 hours and 34 minutes last year. So far this year, the first five games have gone 2:51, 2:23, 2:58, 2:14 and 2:32.

Big difference.

I’m hoping that Major League Baseball will embrace the pitch clock ASAP.

Average time of MLB games this year so far: 3:07.