I love watching baseball. As a diehard Yankees fan, the last few years haven't been too kind, but that hasn't stopped me from loving the game.
So when I got the chance to go to see the MLB All-Star Game and actually step behind the plate to see pitches from an umpire's perspective, I practically jumped out of my chair in excitement.
Not only would I get to see baseball's best smash home runs in the Derby and go head-to-head in a game, but I'd have the chance to walk out onto the field at Citizens Bank Park and try the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system born out of the partnership between T-Mobile and the MLB.
As it turns out, being an umpire and nailing balls and strikes when the pitch is whipping at you at shocking speeds is hard, and it'll always make me pause before I scream at the TV when I feel an umpire is betraying my precious Yankees with an incorrect call.
What is the MLB's ABS system
Before I dig too heavily into my experience with the system, let me briefly explain what it is. The system uses 12 Hawk-Eye cameras installed strategically around the stadium to track the exact 3D location of the baseball as it passes through the strike zone.
While the traditional MLB strike zone is 3D, meaning it spans from the front to the back of the plate, the ABS system uses a 2D version halfway between the front and back of the plate. The league and T-Mobile decided on this based on player feedback, with the interest of creating a more digestible and fan-friendly experience.
Each team is given two opportunities to challenge ball-and-strike calls, and if they get them wrong, they're gone.
But the system works whether the player challenges or not, which keeps it fast. The player gets about two seconds to challenge, and it takes just a couple more seconds to see the result. It feels a bit like magic, both watching it on TV and in the stadium and seeing it up close.
In a fireside chat at Citizens Bank Park during the All-Star festivities, MLB's Executive Vice President of Baseball Economics & Operations, Morgan Sword, spoke about the decision to go with a 2D strike zone. "The two-dimensional zone actually was much more popular with the players because they matched a little closer what they kind of have in their head from all their years of playing baseball," said Curtis.
"When a fan's watching on television, they see the 2D box. It was important that it'd just be understandable for people that the strikes match the way they consume the game."
ABS first hand
I've been to a lot of baseball games and sat in seats all around the stadium. I've never been on the field to watch a pitch come in from an umpire's perspective, though. But that's exactly what happened before the All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
We walked through the locker room area of Citizens Bank Park and made our way to the field — this is the same way the players head to the field each game, so it was already special as a baseball fan.
From there, we walked out directly behind home plate, where the pitcher and catcher were warming up to show us some pitches, and we waited a few minutes, drinking in the experience of being on the same field where the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game would follow.
We moved out to behind home plate, where we'd line up behind the catcher (with a big net between him and us to keep us safe if a pitch got wild) to watch pitches come at us so we could count balls and strikes. After each call, we saw the ABS result on the big screen to gauge how accurate we were, and it's certainly not easy to see a pitch and make a quick decision about whether it's inside the strike zone.
I managed to get 3 of the 5 pitches I saw correct, which I thought was pretty decent. I think the biggest challenge was not having a batter in the box, as it made it quite difficult to tell whether a pitch was high or low in the zone. Of course, spotting whether it's inside or outside wasn't easy, but having the plate there as a reference makes it much easier.
Is ABS truly a game-changer?
Between trying ABS as an empire, watching games on TV and seeing the All-Star Game in person, I do think ABS is a big deal for the sport. But I'm also a hockey player and golfer whose only athletic highlight is playing semi-professional roller hockey.
So I went to the source and asked the current All-Star pitcher, Cam Schlittler, for his thoughts on the system. I thought it might weigh heavily on a pitcher's mind, but for Cam, it doesn't. "I wouldn't say it's really changed my approach. I do think that it's beneficial, but it doesn't really change much on my end"
When I followed up on whether it makes him rethink what he's going to throw, he said, "I'm confident if I miss my spot and it's still in the zone, and you know I trust my catchers to make that call."
Baseball legends seem to be in the same boat, viewing the system as overwhelmingly positive for the game as a whole but not something that would change their approach. When I asked Phillies legend Chase Utley about whether ABS would have been a good thing to have around during his career, he said, "I think it would have helped. What we're seeing is that calls are getting right, and at the end of the day, it's about getting the calls correct."
Power slugger Ryan Howard is right there with his former teammate, saying, "It's about getting the calls right. It can change the flow of a game one way or the other, offensively and or defensively, and that's what it's all about."
Howard doesn't see it as a slight to the umpires, either. "We have the technology to be able to do that, and it's not about making anybody feel bad. It's just about getting the call right for the game," he explained. "The home team can get on the umpires, the visiting team gets on the umpire, and fans get on the umpire. There's nowhere for those guys to hide. So they're trying to do their best. And now they have the technology to help them get the calls right."
And I think that's what makes ABS such a positive overall — it does exactly what it's supposed to without getting in the way.
Players don't have to rethink their approach to the game or anything, but in high-leverage situations, when they feel the umpire has made a mistake, they can do something about it rather than arguing and getting ejected.
And now that I've seen how hard it is to get the call right, I can see how any help would be greatly appreciated.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.
More from Tom's Guide
