OPINION: Change isn’t something to fear

Baseball season has begun! We’re a little over three weeks in and this year is already off to a dramatic start. But, the conversation that’s dominated the start of the season has to do with one of the biggest rule changes the league has seen.

The new automated ball-strike system has now been implemented in the big leagues of Major League Baseball. Now, if a batter, pitcher or catcher disagrees with an umpire’s call, they tap their hat or helmet for a challenge and the system will play an animation on the stadium scoreboard to decide whether the ball was within the strike zone or not, potentially reversing the umpire’s call.

About 53% of 1,844 challenges were successful in spring training games, and that number has only decreased in the time since. As of Monday, April 20, home plate umpires have watched 100,974 pitches this year. Only 1,358 (about 1.3%) of those pitches were challenged, and the umpires got it right in those challenges 725 times (53.4%).

Sure, it might be embarrassing when the entire stadium watches to see if the call was right or not, but the amount of scrutiny umpires get compared to the very small amount of times they get it wrong has been imbalanced forever.

A popular genre of MLB YouTube videos are compilations of times umpires made wild calls. These are entertaining, but the comments on these videos seem to think these mistakes happen every game. When there’s 162 games per team a year and a compilation has to draw clips across multiple seasons and millions of pitches, it’s easy to see the line be skewed.

What’s developed out of this new ABS system is more attention on the players. A pitcher, batter or catcher can change the outcome of a call as long as they challenge fast enough.

Some caveats to the system. Players have to challenge pretty fast (rules say immediately after the pitch is thrown), which includes the inability to check with the dugout for the challenge. So a challenge has to confident and immediate.

Both teams have two challenges through ABS per game. If they win the challenge, they retain the challenge. Part of the reason why umpires will still be a part of the game forever is because of how the calculations will increase the length of a game by a ton. Limiting the challenges keeps the game moving, and also has a strategic side effect.

When should a team choose to challenge? On a 0-0 pitch count with no one on base and zero outs, a ball looks like it flies a little outside the zone. But it’s called a strike. Should a batter challenge? They could if they’re confident, but I’m guessing it’s unlikely at such a low-risk moment. Losing the challenge burns it.

Now, consider this. Count is 3-2, two on base at second and first, catcher at the plate receives a ball in the bottom inside corner and the ump calls ball. Time to challenge.

This system, tested in the minor leagues for a while and in MLB spring training, has made baseball a little bit more accurate and a little bit more exciting. It’s a huge rule change that goes against tradition, decreases the ump’s power slightly and can lead to moments where a tap on the head can end a game, but every challenge now becomes an exciting event.

For a league now playing into its third century, the change is exciting. Technology continues to change how sports are run at the top level, which makes my perspective as someone who loves live broadcasts also excited for the sport.

My Blue Jays may be 9-13 right now, but baseball continues to be my favorite sport to watch. As the count goes up, every batter is an opportunity. The MLB has been through so many changes long before I was even born, and yet there’s still excitement at least 162 times per season.

Things change. Things that we thought were set in stone can be uprooted. There is a capacity to recognize when change can be good and when change can be detrimental. I’m sure umpires hate having their calls be proven wrong to tens of thousands of screaming fans.

But the existence of change isn’t something to fear. A change of scenery, of routine or company is always possible, and no amount of tradition can hold that back.