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SALT LAKE CITY — If you have a complaint with the strike zone at Smith's Ballpark, you'll have to take it up with a computer this season.
Major League Baseball, in a job posting this week, announced that its Automated Ball and Strike system will be expanded to more minor league ballparks this season, including Salt Lake City and the entire Triple-A West league that the Salt Lake Bees play in.
"ABS will leverage optical tracking data to determine and communicate ball and strike calls to plate umpires," the posting states. "It is critical we provide quality support to the umpires and the technology while capturing data around system performance."
The system will also be tested out within the Low-A Southeast league, "select" spring training games in Florida and possibly other minor league games.
In addition to looking for someone to help run Automated Ball and Strike for the Bees, the league said it is currently taking in applications for the Albuquerque Isotopes, El Paso Chihuahuas, Las Vegas Aviators, Oklahoma City Dodgers, Reno Aces, Round Rock Express, Sacramento River Cats, Sugar Land Skeeters and Tacoma Rainiers within the Triple-AAA. It was also looking for someone to help run the system for the Charlotte Knights within Triple-A East.
"The ABS Tech will be located at field level to physically support the plate umpire including his device, its functionality and wiring," the post continued. "The ABS application is a simple phone app operated on an MLB-supplied iPhone with a WiFi connection."
Automated Ball and Strikes, often referred to as "robot umpires" within the baseball circle, is a system that was first used in independent baseball three years ago in an effort to improve the accuracy of umpires while also not delaying the game.
The Atlantic League first tested it in 2019; however, the league, which is an official MLB Partner League but not in the minor league system, announced last week that it is abandoning it because it didn't find that it had much impact on the game, the Associated Press reported.
It's not clear how long the Bees or Triple-A will use the technology or if it will one day get the call-up to the big leagues.
It appears the system will make its Smith's Ballpark debut on April 12, the date of the Bees' home opener. The team's schedule is not impacted by the ongoing MLB players lockout.
So if you don't like the call at the plate this season, at least this time it won't be Blue's fault.
