Column: From the Bench – sports fans must accept technology

Any sports fan can likely recall a time when, either as a player or spectator, the result of an important game was affected by the inaccuracy of an umpire or referee. Missed penalties, wrong ball or strike calls or poor judgment calls on fouls alter the outcome of sporting events
all the time.

In an age when technology seems to be the solution to more and more of life’s problems, could this be true in the world of sports as well? Sports have never been defined by perfection, because people, especially those officiating, are imperfect. But what if the human element was removed?

With Super Bowl Sunday in the rearview mirror and sports fans moving their attention from the gridiron to the diamond, the question of technology in sports is at the forefront of discussion. And whether fans like it or not, technology is coming, and seemingly faster than previously believed.

In a recent interview with Fox Business, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said that a new camera-based automated strike zone system will be tested during the upcoming Spring Training and will be used in the minor leagues at the Single-A level.

Manfred said he believes the new system, which was tested in baseball’s independent Atlantic League last summer and in the Arizona Fall League in 2019, will be “more accurate” than human umpires and will “reduce controversy in the game.”

The statements from Manfred, in combination with news in December that MLB umpires agreed to cooperate with the development and testing of the new ABS (automatic balls and strikes) and assist the commissioner if he would choose to implement the system in the major leagues, come as little surprise to anyone who has followed recent trends in sports.

As missed calls add up in the major sports leagues in the United States and more technology provides the ability to correct human mistakes, the move towards an automatic strike zone seems inevitable. 

Major League Baseball knows what it is doing and has a plan in place for implementing such a dynamic new element to the game. By testing out the new system, called TrackMan, in the independent league and now in the minors, it can troubleshoot the issues and work to make the system as sound as possible before using it in the major leagues.

Many baseball traditionalists have already begun expressing their backlash against the move to “robot umps,” and even players in the Arizona Fall League voiced their concerns about the new technology that was used last season. To them, losing the human element of having an umpire call balls and strikes takes something away from the essence of the sport.

Though many understand and even sympathize with them, most realize that as more facets of life move toward electronic solutions, getting the calls correct and doing so efficiently is going to win out in the end. If the technology that is available will make officiating more accurate and less controversial, it is only a matter of time before automated strike zones are the norm.

Weaner is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter.