Major league umpires will soon have a hand in possibly bringing an electronic strike zone to MLB.
They have agreed to cooperate with MLB in developing and testing an automated ball-strike system as part of a new, five-year labor agreement reached Saturday, The Associated Press reported. Umpires have also agreed to cooperate with commissioner Rob Manfred if he decides to implement the technology at the major league level, the AP reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the labor negotiations.
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MLB began testing the effectiveness of TrackMan technology this year, at parks in the Arizona Fall League and the independent Atlantic League. Reviews were mixed, with the sharpest criticisms directed at calls on pitches in the upper and lower regions of the strike zone.
The AP noted that MLB is discussing whether to install the technology at parks in the Single-A Florida State League in 2020, and then at Triple-A parks in 2021 if the FSL experiment succeeds.
The commissioner's office annouced the labor agreement Saturday night after AP reported details of it. The pact is still subject to ratification by the 30 MLB clubs and the umpires. That ratification process is expected to begin in early 2020, MLB said.
