San Rafael Pacifics Will Utilize Automatic Umpire to Call Balls and Strikes

Umpires are always ripe for criticism during a baseball game, but the independent league San Rafael Pacifics will try something that makes it more difficult to engage in debates about balls and strikes. 

According to a report by Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, the Pacifics will use a computerized video system to determine balls and strikes during games on July 28 and 29 with some help from former big leaguer Eric Byrnes:

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Though the balls and strikes will be determined by a computer, there will be a special human side of the story as well. Former Oakland A's outfielder and current MLB Network analyst, Eric Byrnes, will serve as the Strike Zone Umpire. Byrnes, a long-time proponent of an automated strike zone, will be relaying balls and strikes calls to players and fans. 

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The computer system comes from Sportvision Inc., which is setting up a Pitch F/X system in the stadium for the games. 

Pitch F/X is something that a lot of Major League Baseball fans are familiar with, even if they don't know it. Anyone who has ever used the Gameday application, either on MLB.com or mobile device, has seen it. The pitch locations, velocity, movement, etc. listed come from that system. 

There's been debate about the role of umpires calling balls and strikes behind the plate. In April 2014, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt said in a radio interview with 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia he thinks MLB should have a different system. 

“I think the umpire at home plate should not call balls and strikes," Schmidt said. "I think they should have a force field over home plate and if the pitcher throws and the ball touches the force field a little bell goes off and it’s a strike..."

Schmidt was speaking about ways to speed up the pace of the game, but his general point about human umpires not being allowed to call balls and strikes still rings true. 

Any change in the future is not likely to happen the way Schmidt suggests with the force field, but there is certainly enough technology being developed to take some burden out of the umpires hands. 

No one is suggesting getting rid of the human element altogether, but if there's a better system that can be more accurate and consistent with calls, it should be explored. The Pacifics are opening a door that will hopefully lead to more discussion on the topic, as long as it works smoothly.