ROBO-UMPS Are They Good For Baseball?

What Are Robo-Umps?

Robo-Umps are a relatively new addition to the game of baseball. They aren’t actual robots on the field making the calls, instead, the traditional human umpire is out there making the calls, but when a team player or manager would like to challenge a ball or strike call, the pitch is verified by an electronic strike zone. The strike zone is a electronically viewable 3D rendition of the zone, or box, and it shows where the pitch crossed the plate or zone. Robo-umps had been used in recent years throughout the minor leagues, but Robert

Manfred, the commissoner of Major League Baseball now plans to have it be introduced in the upcoming 2024 MLB season (Pierce, 2022).

“It just doesn’t make any sense to me, it just takes away the whole point of catching.”

- Harrison Chang, LASA Baseball Catcher, Voted Against

In addition, the use of robo-umps will be employed in every single Triple-A ballpark for this 2023 season, whether fans and players like it or not (Postins, 2023). These new moves have caused mixed feelings among baseball fans, and here’s a pie chart showing the opinions of the 38 people that took this poll. 29 SU SPRING 2023~

“Personally I’m a fan, you know, now, as an umpire, you just don’t have to deal with fans yelling, “That was a strike!”, or “That was a ball”. I think It’ll make the umpires’ job a lot easier and less frustrating.”