A late experimentation had data processor doing the line of baseball umpire , and it may orient to a future where arguing bollock and strikes is futile .
The San Rafael Pacifics of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs ( a league not affiliated with MLB ) used a digital pitch trailing system called Pitchf / x to call clump and strikes during a two - game series in July . The technology quickly analyzed the location of a pitch and transmit it to an off - theater official with a microphone who denote the call to the players and the crowd .
Pitchf / x has been used in Major League Baseball , but only for analytic reasons . Here ’s a rundown fromSmithsonian :
While MLB has never used Pitchf / x on an prescribed base for calling actual orchis and strikes , some guess the applied science should have a hereafter in the majors . Former big leaguer Eric Byrnes , who dish out as the vocalisation of the " robo umpire " during the San Rafael Pacifics ' experimentation , says the automatize hit zona is " unseamed " and does n’t slow down or in any way handicap the plot . " To get it on you ’re getting every single call right , it takes away all the injustices , in my opinion , " Byrnes told theAssociated Press .
Wayne Acerogiles , the home home base umpire , still put up in his wonted locating behind the catcher during the game , but he was there only to make calls other than balls and strikes , like close plays at home . Acerogiles suggested to the AP that , in the future , umpires could wear an ear piece that delivers the Pitchf / x datum , allowing the umpire to still appear to make the call .
" Tempo was tricky , and tricky for the batsman , too , " fellow umpire Eric Thompson secernate the AP . He had some other complaint , as well . " We have fun being on the field . If we get replaced by robots , we ’re not on the field of force anymore , so we ’re not going to have fun . It ’s fun to argue . "
Everything seemed to run smoothly in the Pacifics ' games , but do n’t gestate to see Major League Baseball adopt a standardised system anytime before long . The arbiter ' union has vocalise headache over how it might impress jobs and MLB officials — often tolerant to change — arereluctant to full removethe human element from the game .
If you ’re someone who goes to the ballpark to vent at the umpire , this technology is n’t for you . At one point during the Pacifics ' experimentation , the computer send for strike three on San Rafael ’s Jeremy Williams . After Byrnes yelled the call through the PA system , the humble crowd booed Byrnes , propel him to stand up and plead , " I ’m just the courier . I mean , yell at this ! Blame the computer ! Blame the information processing system ! "
