MLB Integrates Technological Umps

Major League Baseball recently announced that it will be testing the use of robotic umpires, often referred to as “robo umps,” during the 2025 spring training season.  Known as the Automated Ball Strike System, or the ABS, it will track  baseballs by using cameras that are positioned throughout the stadium.  It will make calls, such as “strike” or “ball,” just as traditional umpires have done in the past. A human umpire will accompany the technology verifying its accuracy.   There is also discussion that the players themselves could possibly have ipads to help monitor and record their plays. The new system will be implented in thirteen stadiums and across nineteen teams this training season. Both Florida’s Grapefruit League and Arizona’s Cactus League will be using this new technology.

Although the technology is not new — it has been used in college-level baseball for the past six years–  it has left fans expressing their concerns. West Springfield High School student, Jayden Diaz, who is also a player on the school’s baseball team, feels that “a human side of the sport will be lost, people will also lose their jobs and need to work somewhere else to feed their families. The human aspect is knowing the call is from a human with a will of his own.”  Other fans, however, believe the new technology will bring more reliability to the sport.  West Side baseball player Cohan Meier says, “Robotic umpires will be a good change as humans make so many bad calls.”

If the ABS technology proves to be successful, it could possibly replace human umpires in the near future, and this has caused additional concerns.  Some fans worry about the influence that the new technology will have on other popular sports, such as football and soccer.  It is clear that this new technology marks a shift in baseball and has the potential to bring us into a whole new era of sports.