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<\/p>\n Atlanta
\n CNN
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n The hottest topic in Atlanta ahead Tuesday\u2019s Major League Baseball isn\u2019t a player, a coach or a manager.\n <\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s not even human.\n <\/p>\n
\n For the first time, the midsummer classic is going to be using automated technology to allow pitchers, catchers and batters to challenge balls and strikes \u2013 a system that\u2019s been in use in the minor leagues and in spring training but had never been put in place before at a major league park.\n <\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s a technology that has the potential to revolutionize the game, a system that might forever change one of the ficklest parts of an incredibly fickle game: The ever-changing, unpredictable strike zone put in place by all-too-human home plate umpires.\n <\/p>\n
\n Pitchers are largely unfazed \u2013 at least before the game gets going.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don\u2019t plan on using them. I\u2019m probably not going to use them in the future. I\u2019m gonna let the catcher do that,\u201d said Tarik Skubal, the Detroit Tigers star who will start the game for the American League. \u201cI have this thing where I think everything\u2019s a strike until the umpire calls it a ball.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Paul Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates fireballer who will start for the National League, felt much the same way.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cPitchers think that everything\u2019s a strike, then you go back and look at it and it\u2019s two, three balls off,\u201d he said Monday. \u201cSo, we should not be the ones that are challenging it. I really do like the human element of the game. I think this is one of those things that you kind of think that umpires are great until they\u2019re not, and so I could kind of care less either way, to be honest.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n According to MLB, the challenge system will have the same rules as were used in spring training: Each team starts the game with two challenges and they keep their challenge if they are deemed correct. Only the pitcher, catcher and hitter can challenge a call and the system is put into place when one of those players taps the top of his cap or helmet twice.\n <\/p>\n
\n The system was in place during the Futures Game at Truist Park on Saturday between some of the game\u2019s top minor league prospect. When a player would challenge a call, the game would pause, and attention would turn to the stadium\u2019s massive screen beyond right center field.\n <\/p>\n
\n A virtual simulation of the pitch would be shown along with a strike zone and the technology would rule if the ball fell within or outside the box. Play would then resume after the short break.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s unclear exactly how the league will determine the size of those strike zones for each batter, and that\u2019s something Los Angeles Dodgers veteran Clayton Kershaw wants to know.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI did a few rehab starts with it. I\u2019m OK with it, you know, I think, I mean, it works,\u201d he told reporters on Monday. \u201cI just don\u2019t really understand how they\u2019re doing the box for the hitter, because I think every different TV or national streaming service has their own box. I think I just hope that they figure out, because Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve should have different sized boxes, so \u2026 know they\u2019ve obviously thought about that. I haven\u2019t talked to MLB about it, but as long as that gets figured out, I think it\u2019d be fun.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The phrase used most on Monday when discussing the technology was an iconic one in baseball lore: The \u201chuman element.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s one of the things that can make baseball so perfectly imperfect \u2013 the ability of umpires to simply get it wrong and make a massive impact on the game. From Jim Joyce ruling a batter safe to ruin Armando Galarraga\u2019s perfect game bid to Don Dekinger\u2019s World Series-changing call in 1985, ruling Kansas City Royals player Jorge Orta was safe at first base even though replays showed he was out by a step. Instead of being the last out of a St. Louis Cardinals World Series championship, the moment became the spark for the Royals to charge back and win the title.\n <\/p>\n
\n The \u201chuman element\u201d is one of baseball\u2019s quirks that give the nation\u2019s pastime its identity. But it\u2019s also something that many fans would rather see cast off into obscurity.\n <\/p>\n
\n Chris Sale, the Atlanta Braves pitcher and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, said he still wants it to be part of the game.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHonestly, for me, I kind of like the human element, right? Like I understand why they want to use ABS. And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a perfect system yet,\u201d he said. \u201cI kind of like the old feel, the old way of doing it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atlanta CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 The hottest topic in Atlanta ahead Tuesday\u2019s Major League Baseball isn\u2019t a player, a coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-11460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}