In 3A, a minor league baseball team, a computer has introduced an "automatic referee" to judge strikes and balls this season.

In the major leagues, it is not uncommon for players and managers to be sent off due to judgments, and it is being watched whether the operation of automatic referees will spread to the major leagues in the future.

Of the 3A of Major League Baseball, which is the second army of professional baseball, the "International League" has introduced automatic referees from the beginning of this season, and the other "Pacific Coast League" also has automatic referees at some stadiums this week. Introduced.



Based on the data taken by multiple cameras installed in the stadium, the computer instantly determines whether the ball is a strike or a ball, and the result is transmitted by voice to the ball umpire wearing earphones. And declare a strike and a ball.



On the other hand, whether or not the batter has swung, foul chips, etc. are to be judged and declared by the ball umpire and the base umpire as before.



Shogo Akiyama, who belongs to El Paso Chihuahuas, 3A under the Padres, also conducted a test operation in the game he participated in last week, and the referee declared a strike and a ball immediately after catching the ball as before. However, the match was proceeding smoothly.



In the major leagues, it is not uncommon for players and managers to be sent off due to dissatisfaction with the strikes and ball judgments of the ball umpire. I was sent off because I was dissatisfied with the judgment by hitting the bat.



Shohei Ohtani of the Angels also shook his head while raising his right hand when he missed and struck out in the Rangers game on the 16th of this month, showing a dissatisfied expression.



Otani used to say that as a batter, a ball that looks like a ball zone is judged to be a strike. No. I think it's the pitcher who threw it in a good place, the habit of the ball umpire, and the catcher's pitching that understood that. "



In Major League Baseball, a video analysis system called "Statcast" has been introduced at all stadiums, and even in the live video, it may be displayed instantly whether or not it has passed the strike zone, so "automatic referee" has been introduced for some time. It is being debated whether it should be done, and it is drawing attention whether the operation will spread to major leagues in the future as a result of the introduction in 3A this time.

"Report card" of the ball umpire also appeared

In Major League Baseball, where the judgment of the ball umpire is often controversial, sites such as "report cards" that evaluate the accuracy of the ball umpire for each match have also appeared.



Twitter, named "Referee's Score" in Japanese, publishes how accurate the referee's decision was in the match based on Statcast data.



For example, in the match against Brewers on the 24th of last month when Phillies' Schwarber was sent off, the accuracy of the strike judgment was 77%, which is 11% lower than the average of 88%.

It also shows which ball was actually wrong compared to the video data, and also shows which team the decision was in favor of.



In this match, the Brewers beat the Phillies 1-0, but the ball umpire's decision was 0.77 points ahead of the Brewers.



In Major League Baseball, video judgment has been introduced for racy play that judges out and safe, but with the advent of such sites, the judgment of the ball umpire is "absolute" until now for strike and ball judgment. There is a strict eye on it.



On the other hand, when the automatic referee was introduced in 1A of the minor league last year, there are cases where a clearly low ball is judged as a strike, and if the home base or batter's box is not completely flat, there will be an error in the judgment. It was also pointed out that it would occur.



The major league players' association has been reluctant to introduce the decision of the automatic referee, so it seems that discussions will continue in the future.