Answering the 'robo call': Isotopes adjust to automated calls of balls, strikes

May 27—"Come on, Blue!"

You'll still hear it at games.

You may even still yell it at the ballpark when you can't believe that nameless umpire had the audacity to call a strike three against your favorite Isotopes hitter when said hitter didn't even take the bat off his shoulder.

But the reality is, despite that umpire making the same dramatic punch-out signal behind home plate baseball fans have grown accustomed to, he wasn't the one who actually made the call.

His show is merely to let everyone else in the stadium know what was already determined by the eye in the sky.

On May 17 — and for the first time this week in Albuquerque — the Pacific Coast League is testing Major League Baseball's new "Automated Ball-Strike" system, a detailed computerized system designed to create a more consistent and accurate strike zone — charting the pitches and sending through an earpiece worn by the home plate umpire an audible "ball" or "strike" for him to then signal.

"I've been pleasantly surprised so far," said Albuquerque Isotopes manager Warren Schaeffer this week. The system has been in place since the Isotopes' six-game series last week in Salt Lake City. "I thought there might be a delay in the calls as the signal came in to the umpire, but that hasn't happened.

"I don't know what human umpires miss in a game — maybe three or four calls a game? And this system seems like it's missing three or four a game, I guess. I'm sure that they can improve it and it's always going to keep improving I guess."

So, no. While "robo ump" is a common phrase used to describe the new system, actual humans remain behind the plate — or at least as human as baseball fans have ever considered an umpire.

Luis Hernandez, for those looking to win future trivia contests, was the first umpire to "call" an ABS game in Albuquerque as he had the home-plate duties for Tuesday's series opener between the Isotopes and visiting Round Rock. If you didn't know a "ball" or "strike" signal was actually being instantly fed to him through an earpiece, you'd probably never know anything new was going on.

"The technology is there," said an MLB official who spoke to the Journal about the implementation of the automated ball-strike system.

This is not something that is on the immediate horizon for major league games. At this point, MLB is trying to get enough of a sample size to see how the game is affected and troubleshoot any unforeseen issues.

But while MLB is confident in the accuracy of the system, some players say they have questions and want the "human element" to remain in the game.

"From a pitcher's perspective, I think where before there was an umpire behind the home plate calling the pitches, and that day he might be giving an inch off the outside corner, but it was that way for every hitter," explained Isotopes reliever Logan Cozart. "That was the strike zone that game and you adjusted to it, but you knew it. Now, it's every single hitter that comes up there, what we're seeing is balls that touch the plate — that touch the zone on the iPad (that teams can track in the dugout) — that are called balls, and then the next hitter, the pitch touches the same exact spot and they're called strikes."

The system has, at least so far, mostly taken away any arguing of balls and strikes.

But old habits are hard to break. Dillon Overton got the second start for the Isotopes with the ABS in place on May 18 in Salt Lake. Cozart recalls seeing Overton disagree with a called ball early in the game and asking the umpire a familiar question.

"He throws a pitch and it's close and he says, 'Hey, where is that?'" Cozart said. "And the umpire just shrugged and said, I don't know."

IN THE ZONE: The system is designed to have a uniform strike zone decided by MLB, at least for now, to be a line across the middle of the plate that is 19-inches wide, and the top and bottom are based on a player's height, which have to be put into the computer system before a game.

The top of the zone is set at a computer-generated 52.5% of the batter's height and the bottom at 27% of his height.

HAWK-EYE: Using the same computerized optical tracking technology known as Hawk-Eye that has been used for several years now in pro tennis and some other sports, MLB's new ABS system is a rather in-depth setup.

In early April, MLB set up eight high-speed cameras and hundreds of receivers around Isotopes Park that, along with the video from the cameras, add to a triangulation process that can help determine exactly where the ball crosses the strike zone — despite there being no camera directly over or behind the plate.

The MLB says it is confident a foul ball hitting one camera or a light drizzle of rain during a game won't affect the data accuracy.

"It's here," Schaeffer said. "We'll all get used to it. As long as we don't see it really messing things up, we'll adjust."

CHANGES ALL AROUND: ABS is one of several trial run sort of changes taking place around minor league baseball this season and over the past several years.

By now, fans have noticed such things as the running pitch clock — seen on the outfield fence of behind home plate near each dugout — that is meant to speed up games (and stats say it has been successful in doing just that), larger bases meant to increase stolen bases and even a new rule that allows for pitchers to have only two pickoff attempts of a base runner per batter.

Schaeffer, in general, is OK with most of the changes being tested. He wants to see some slight tweaks on the pitch clock and says he hasn't noticed the new "pizza box" bases having a huge affect on the game. But not the pickoff rule is one he can't get on board with because as opposed to slight alterations to parts of the game, this is a rule he says changes actual game play.

"That affects the game and I don't like that," Schaeffer said. "That's not necessary at all. I don't like that one because it adds a different strategy to the game. It's like putting the dang runner on second base in extra innings, you know? ... I mean you adjust as a manager and you have different strategies, but I don't think you put something into the game that maybe doesn't need to be there."

'TOPES FRIDAY: Round Rock at Albuquerque, 7:05 p.m., 610 AM/95.9 FM.