Orioles reset: Some players in no rush for automated ball-strike system to reach MLB

CHICAGO — There are missed calls, and then there are uncharacteristic ones.

MLB umpires have been the subject of intense scrutiny for years because of their inability to call balls and strikes perfectly, or, at the very least, make the right calls in the most crucial moments. While the strike zone has had the same dimensions since 1996, including a strike zone graphic on TV broadcasts and the availability of ball-tracking data has made it easier than ever to spot mistakes. Reviewing plays has made its way into baseball, but not for calling balls and strikes.

The league has been testing different versions of automated ball-strike (ABS) systems in the minor leagues since 2021, using Hawk-Eye cameras, which have all but eliminated line judges in professional tennis major championships because of their accuracy, to generate a strike zone that players can use to challenge home plate umpires if they disagree with a call. However, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said at the owners meetings Thursday that it’s “becoming more and more likely” that the league won’t adopt an ABS system until 2026 at the earliest because of “technical issues” related to the system.

Orioles players are fine with them taking their time. Even after a road trip in which there were many questionable calls — enough for St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar to get ejected over arguing them Tuesday — many players prefer to stick with the human umpires, mistakes and all.

“I’m a proponent of the old-time baseball,” said Orioles starter Corbin Burnes, who serves on the MLB competition committee. “I like the human error that’s involved in it. As a pitcher on the mound, you don’t always have your best days and stuff gets hit. Behind the plate as an umpire, you don’t always have your best days and you miss some calls. Obviously, I think the calls we want to eliminate are the game-changing type of ball-strike calls and so, if it does happen, if they get to the point where they trust the technology enough, I think a challenge system is more beneficial than going straight to the ABS.”

A challenge system has been implemented at the Triple-A and Low-A levels. The leagues use full ABS tracking on games played from Tuesday through Thursday and switch to the challenge system for weekends. Players have two seconds after a given pitch to challenge a call and each team gets three unsuccessful challenges per game. If a call is overturned, that challenge doesn’t count toward their total.

The problem for players isn’t necessarily the challenge system, but how the ABS defines the strike zone. While umpires work from the official rule book, they do still use their own discretion on pitches that might register as strikes on a computer even though they’re practically unhittable.

“You think that robot would mean, ‘Oh, it’s perfect.’ Well, there’s a lot of gray area with that,” catcher James McCann said.

“Are you going to give the pitch that clips the very front of the plate that’s bouncing before the catcher catches it? Because that pitch has never been called a strike in the history of the game. If it bounces, you got guys that have enough movement on pitches where they could learn how to clip a certain part of the zone and hitters are going to be looking back saying, ‘Wait a second. That wasn’t a strike for 150 years.’”

Despite the clamor of fans on social media, there’s no consensus among players on whether the implementation of an ABS would be good for the game. Many players, such as Burnes and McCann, relish the gamesmanship that comes with studying the scouting report and tendencies of an umpire and using it to their advantage. Outfielder Colton Cowser feels the ABS helped him gain a better sense of the strike zone when he used it in Triple-A, but even he doesn’t feel like MLB needs to adopt it right now.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily something that like, ‘Oh, well, we really, really need this.’ No, that’s not anything that goes through my head,” Cowser said. “I think the umpires that we have up here, their jobs are really hard and I think they do a really good job and sure, occasionally, there might be a couple of bad calls, but their job is just as hard as ours.”

For now, players — or perhaps more accurately, fans — are stuck with human umpires. The ABS still doesn’t call balls and strikes with the accuracy fans are looking for and the parameters of what makes up the strike zone might have to be reexamined to account for what the computer picks up on. The ABS might be the future, but the technology still has some kinks to work out.

“There’s so many flaws in the technology,” Burnes said. “I wouldn’t say the players hate it but I wouldn’t say that everyone is like jumping on board, ‘Let’s do it.’ So, I think the full automated ABS, I don’t know if it’ll ever have a place in the game. I think the challenge system eventually will, similar to our replay type of system but you see our replay system, there’s calls it looks like it should be overturned that don’t. So, it’s just kind of kind of how it goes. Yeah, I definitely think we’re still a few years away from seeing any of that type of system.”

What’s to come?

Division opponents. The Orioles (33-18) are set to play four straight series against American League East teams, beginning with three games against the Boston Red Sox (27-26) and three against the Tampa Bay Rays (26-28). Neither team is playing particularly well right now — and the Orioles swept Boston in their first meeting earlier this year — but division games can be a challenge regardless of the opponent.

They’ll play each of these next six games at home before going back on the road for more divisional play with back-to-back four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays (23-29) and Rays again. The schedule won’t get any easier from there as the Orioles don’t play a series after that against a team under .500 until June 21 when they face the Houston Astros (24-29).

What was good?

The series in Chicago. Baltimore orchestrated its first four-game road sweep since 2011 with an impressive weekend playing the worst team in baseball. The White Sox (15-39) struggled against the Orioles’ starting pitchers, capped off by Kyle Bradish throwing seven hitless innings Sunday. Grayson Rodriguez was also solid over five innings, Burnes picked up his sixth straight quality start and Albert Suárez tossed four scoreless frames in his return to the rotation.

Baltimore’s offense also started to show signs of life after a drop in production over the first three weeks of May. Ryan Mountcastle, who was struggling mightily heading into the series, had an encouraging weekend by going 7-for-17 (.412). Anthony Santander homered twice and Adley Rutschman had seven RBIs.

What wasn’t?

The series in St. Louis. The Orioles’ streak of 106 consecutive series without being swept was ended by the Cardinals (24-26), who were six games under .500 when the series began. St. Louis has been playing better of late, but the Orioles were held to three hits twice and the bullpen squandered two opportunities to keep them in games.

To make matters worse, two Orioles starters were injured in the series. Dean Kremer strained his triceps Monday and landed on the injured list before he could make his next start. John Means left his outing Wednesday with elbow soreness and returned to Baltimore to meet with doctors about his surgically repaired joint. He’s currently seeking a second opinion with no timetable for his return.

On the farm

Another week, another hot streak for Heston Kjertsad.

The Orioles’ outfield prospect has been a mismatch for Triple-A pitching all season, and he continued to show it last week by hitting .524 with five doubles and a home run. Kjerstad hasn’t had the opportunity for regular playing time when he’s been in the majors, but he has shown he’s more than ready to move on from the minor leagues at 25 years old.

Red Sox at Orioles

Monday, 1:05 p.m.

TV: MASN

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM