It's time for balls and strikes to be challenged fully, the MLB announced on Tuesday. And that means using the ABS challenge system for calls on pitches — just not yet in the majors. Instead, it's being rolled out for Triple-A farm teams.
Jesse Rogers of ESPN broke down what this means.
"The move is another indication that the league is inching toward implementing the challenge system at the major league level, though commissioner Rob Manfred has said that move is still at least another season away from happening," Rogers wrote.
"The memo, obtained by ESPN, says the league's research indicates that both in-uniform personnel (players and coaches) and fans prefer a challenge system over full ABS."
Forget ABS, what MLB players and coaches truly want is no BS. Right? Right.
"In the challenge system, challenges to calls on balls and strikes are made by the hitter or catcher in real-time with the umpire receiving an answer to the challenge via an earpiece," Rogers wrote. "In full ABS, every call is made for the umpire.
"For the first half of this season at Triple-A, full ABS was used for Tuesday-Thursday games while the challenge system was used for weekend contests. Now, all games will have the challenge system."
With modern technology and analytics, and the demand for proper officiating and umpiring ... hey, why not? You want to make sure the calls are correct, no matter how painful it can sometimes be for the home team.
But there were plenty of missed calls in all sports before the rise of technology, and sports survived just fine. Now, they theoretically will be even better — at least for guys who play Triple-A baseball.
