MIAMI (AP) — Major League Baseball’s experiment with a robotic umpire technology system that allows challenges to checked swing calls is being upgraded from Class A to Class 3A.
MLB will also test moving second base slightly to place it entirely inside the infield, which would reduce the distance between first and second base and between second and third base by 9 inches, according to a memo sent to teams last week.
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It will try to reduce allowed pitcher disengagements from two to one pitcher per plate appearance, impose tighter limits on batter timeouts and reset the pitch clock in response to issues with PitchCom, an electronic signaling device that has been in use since 2023.
There will also be a test that would allow starting pitchers to return to play at the lowest level of the minor leagues. The test is not expected to lead to MLB implementation, but the minors are considering it to improve development and player health by allowing for more flexible workload management.
MLB’s automated batting challenge system, known as robot umpires, will launch when the season begins on March 25, following testing that began in the minors in 2019. A batter, catcher or pitcher can appeal a human umpire’s ball/strike call, and in this system each team has two challenges and retains its challenge if successful. In overtime, the team will face an additional challenge.
Last May 20, the Class A Florida State League began an experiment to allow swing call challenges on inspections, and the test was expanded to the Arizona Fall League.
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Beginning May 5, swing testing will expand to the 3A Pacific Coast League in addition to the FSL.
“A batter, pitcher or catcher may also appeal an umpire’s decision as to whether a batter strikes,” Joe Martinez, MLB’s vice president of on-field strategy, said in a memo to general managers and other club executives. “A swing is considered to have occurred if the maximum angle between the club head and club handle exceeds 45 degrees.”
Martinez said the strikeout rate was down 3 percent in last year’s testing.
In addition, umpires in the International Triple-A League will be instructed to apply a 45-degree threshold to determine swings. Baseball’s official rules do not specify the criteria for checking a swing, only stating: “A hit is a legal pitch when, as declared by the umpire, a hit is struck by the batter and is missed.”
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Since the 1970s, catchers have been allowed to ask the home plate umpire to appeal a bad swing to the first and third base umpires, but no appeals are allowed when a swing is called a strike.
Starting pitchers who were removed from the Arizona Combined League, Florida Combined League and Dominican Summer League will be allowed to return to action. A removed starting pitcher is eligible to return if he has thrown at least 25 pitches in the inning in which he was removed, and may only return at the beginning of the inning and may only re-enter the game once.
In 2023, MLB expanded the number of bases from 15 to 18 inches square, a change that resulted in an increase in stolen bases because the distance between first and second base, and second and third base, was shortened by 4 1/2 inches.
Second base has always been centered around the exact location of second base, but the International League experiment will put it “entirely around the perimeter of the infield diamond” in the second half of the season.
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Considering the average length of a nine-inning game has increased from 2 hours and 36 minutes in 2024 to 2 minutes and 38 seconds last year, and the stolen base success rate has dropped from 80.2% in 2023 to 77.8% last year, MLB will try to change the pitch clock rules.
If a game is stopped due to a PitchCom issue, Triple-A teams will be evaluated for a mound visit, and if the team does not visit, the ball will automatically be charged.
At all levels, the clock does not stop when the catcher leaves the catcher’s box for a defensive signal, and players other than the pitcher and coach must leave the mound before the clock for mound visits runs out. Violations will result in automatic balls.
In High A, batters are not allowed to request time if the bases are empty, and no timeouts are allowed in Class A. Exceptions will be allowed for back brushing, possible injury, or equipment issues.
In Double-A games, the number of times a pitcher is allowed to come off the rubber will be reduced from two to one.
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Associated Press MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
