It took the Chicago Cubs less than a full inning to test out MLB’s automatic ball and strike technology by requesting a challenge in their spring training opener. Their National League Central rivals Cincinnati Reds are taking a much different approach, opting not to use the system at all during exhibition play.
Reds manager Terry Francona told reporters on Friday that he’s instructed his Major League players not to even bother with the experiment.
“I’m OK with seeing our younger kids do it because they’ve done it,” Francona said. “It’s not a strategy for [the MLB teams], so why work on it? I don’t want to make a farce of anything, but we’re here getting ready for a season and that’s not helping us get ready.”
Many fans and players have been clamoring for robot umps for years now — and MLB recently began to test it out in minor league games. For the first time ever, the technology is being rolled out for spring training games at some ballparks (five in the Cactus League and eight in the Grapefruit League).
For The Win’s Andrew Joseph explained how it all works:
Each team will have two ABS challenges per game — separate from the standard replay challenges. The team retains its challenges if the review is successful.
Instead of having challenges signaled from the dugout, ABS challenges can only be made by a hitter, pitcher or catcher. And it must be done immediately after the pitch. Again, the request cannot come from the dugout at all. We saw it in action during the Padres’ live batting practice, and it looked like this:
In minor league testing, the ABS took 17 seconds to review a challenge on average.
Francona is right that his players don’t need to worry about learning a system they won’t even use, but it sure seems like the league is trending towards adding the technology at the MLB level. Whether or not the Reds learn to take advantage of it now. the franchise will want to make sure its ready for a full implementation eventually.
In the meantime, a team that has made the playoffs once since 2014 surely has more important things to focus on.
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