The days of Angel Hernandez makin’ you pull out your hair may soon be over … ’cause Major League Baseball is instituting robot umpires for the 2022 Triple-A season — moving one big step closer to an eventually automated strike zone in The Show.
MLB let the cat out of the bag on the plans this week … posting a notice on its website seeking seasonal employees to operate the automated ball-strike system at the highest level of MILB.
According to the Associated Press, 14 teams will be looking to fill openings at their respective ballparks.
The development comes just two years after the Independent Atlantic League became the first American pro baseball league to let a computer call balls and strikes.
It’s something that many players and fans have been calling for forever … and it would eliminate the inconsistent strike zones.
After taking a year off because of the pandemic, robots were used in Low-A ball (Southeast League) at a majority of ballparks in 2021.
The Major League Baseball Umpires Association did agree in 2020 to assist and cooperate with MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred, if he decided to ultimately institute change at the major league level.
As for will we see them next season on opening day — MLB did say the robot umps will be used at some spring training ballparks … and didn’t rule out the possibility of them being used at non-MLB venues.
That is, if we even have a next season!!!