Umpire Richie Garcia thinks it is humiliating to have a strike or ball call overturned by the ABS Automated Ball Strike system. Time will tell, but I think Umpires will do fine. I've already seen several batters challenge a call during a spring training game and the ABS replay shows the pitch barely touched the strike zone, this makes the Umpire look like a genius.
What I hope happens is batters begin a ritual of tipping their cap to the Umpire whenever ABS proves the Umpire's call was correct. Eventually, an ABS baseline average will emerge, perhaps for every challenged call that is overturned, another call is not overturned. ABS Stats may emerge and most likely most Umpires should fall within a narrow range, perhaps around 33% to 50% calls are overturned, thus, the ABS stat will just become a badge of honor for the Umpires and fans to follow.
HOWEVER, to make ABS really cool, what if everytime a challenge is wrong, the team the ballplayer plays for donates 100 dollars to a designated Foundation or Non-profit? Perhaps the Umpires could choose the Foundation or Non-profit. The most that could be generated is 400 dollars per game, but over the course of a full season, lets say one challenge per game is not overturned for both sides, that would be 200 dollars per game multiplied by a 162 game season, then multiplied by 15 contests per full schedule, equals $486,000 dollars, plus, a tip of the cap to the Umpire whenever their call is not overturned.
Los Angeles Emmy winning Producer Alessandro Machi combines his editing, camera and observational skills to provide unique insights into the World of Sports.
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