Ending Whine Time

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Stop the whining.

One constant in watching an MLB game these days is the never-ending whining when it comes to balls and strikes.

On borderline called strikes, the batter is often shaking his head “no” to show he does not agree with the home plate umpire’s call. Over in the dugout, managers like Aaron Boone are making faces or yelling at the umpire, “Hey, you missed that one.’’ Usually, as Boone is yelling, he is missing his mouth with sunflower seeds, which I find amusing.

Then on television the announcer lets out an “Ooh!’’ to signify the ball was not in the TV box, which, by the way, is not always accurate.

Same thing goes for the pitcher and catcher – if a pitch they deem a strike is called a ball, the pitcher will stare in at the umpire and ask, “Where was it?’’ The catcher, face hidden behind a mask, will grumble and hold the pitch in place as if to say: “Can you see it now. That’s a strike.’’

And if that is one of his Yankee pitchers on the mound, Boone will yell out the umpire’s name: “C’mon!” Boone will then again miss his mouth with another handful of sunflower seeds as he chastises the ump for not being accurate with his call.

It all becomes pretty tiresome.

And don’t forget the TV analyst will chime in, “Missed that one.”

Well, I am not going to miss any of that in 2026 when the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system comes into play in Major League Baseball. Each team will have two challenges. Get the challenge right and you don’t lose the challenge. So, essentially, you can have infinite challenges, if you challenge correctly. Or you can lose them both in no time if you don’t challenge correctly.

It is long overdue. I believe ABS can stand for something else, Anti-Bitch System.

Robot umps will not help every pitch, just the pitches that are immediately contested by the pitcher, catcher or hitter.

Here is the AMBS Tip of the Day: Teams would be wise to keep pitchers away from challenging calls. It turns out that in limited use this past spring training, catchers were right on their challenges 56 percent of the time, hitters were at 50 percent, and pitchers were correct only about 41 percent of the time.

“That sounds about right,’’ one top talent evaluator told BallNine, “I would never let a pitcher challenge because I was a pitcher – and every close pitch I wanted, I thought it was a strike.’’

Yes, this evaluator, who has seen the ABS system in action in the minor leagues heartily recommends teams do not let pitchers challenge those calls. Leave it up to the catcher. He’s a lot closer to the action too, catching the ball. A challenge must be made immediately after the pitch when a player taps his helmet or his cap, in the case of the pitcher and vocalizes the challenge.

Managers seem to be behind the change as Phillies manager Rob Thomson noted, “I think it keeps everybody accountable.’’

Great point, Topper. It also keeps managers from being fined and ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

Pitcher, catcher, hitter and umpire are now accountable, and managers can take a deep breath. The umpire baiters like Aaron Boone will not be thrown out of games for arguing balls and strikes.

You can’t MF technology like you can umpires. Sure, the human element loses out again but technology marches on in the video game world of Manfred MLB.

Umpires have been neutered in numerous ways and this is just another example, but in some ways, the umps have brought this on themselves with the missing of so many pitches … if that TV strike zone box is correct.

So here we are letting Hawk-Eye cameras become the Eye in the Sky for umpires. And that is okay.

It is long overdue. I believe ABS can stand for something else, Anti-Bitch System.

Stop the bitching on seemingly every pitch and that is a really good thing for baseball. Especially if you watch any level of amateur baseball like I do, I watch a lot of Little League, high school, travel baseball, and all that bitching in the majors about balls and strikes runs downhill – 12-year-olds know it all now.

What I find particularly amusing at the amateur level is some kid will be thrown out at second base, say, trying steal a base, and he will immediately pop up and repeatedly put his hands over his ears to mimic the major league call for a challenge to the play; put on the headphones. As if this were the major leagues. Kids mimic what they see but dude, you are playing travel baseball on a Tuesday night in Saddle Brook, NJ, there are no replay officials waiting in a command center to make that call.

Learn to deal with the ump’s call and move on, it’s called life. Everything is not going to go your way. And more importantly, parents learn to deal with it, you can’t make everything go your kid’s way. You should not be a “lawnmower’’ parent and clear a path, cut out all the obstacles standing in your kid’s way. You are not helping the situation.

This also is a good lesson to learn at an early age, “You know what, some umpires stink.’’

It is a good warmup for when you get that boss in your future life, who is an idiot. Learn to deal with it.

There are consequences to having consequences.

And what’s even worse there are consequences to not having consequences. Just look at all the young losers popping up on the news almost on a daily basis.

Technology has taken over the game of baseball in so many ways at the pro level; this ABS system was inevitable. I like the fact that there are two challenges because it puts the challengers on notice, hey, you better be right. It’s a good number.

More inside info from the top talent evaluator.

“Overall, I like it,’’ he said. “The managers have to control the people who can challenge. You can’t have the leadoff hitter have the first pitch be a borderline pitch and you lose one of your challenges. There is going to have to be some strategy into it. Late in the game, with the winning run on third base and you have a punch out, you use it then, and you have to have people who are smart.

“You can’t have a dumbass catcher or a dumbass pitcher who thinks every pitch that is close is a strike.’’

For example, an emotional player like Jazz Chisholm has to be in control in these situations. Challenges are precious weapons. And I’m telling you right now, be careful what you wish for on both sides, because there are going to be situations where a hitter is adamant he is correct in his challenge and that baseball will clip the tiniest portion of the Hawk-Eye box or for an adamant pitcher, miss the Hawk-Eye box by a hair.

The eyes can play tricks on you. Technology doesn’t lie but it all depends on how everything is measured and put into action. Rob Manfred and his minions have been trying to shrink the strike zone for years in an effort to bring more offense to the game. The strike zone shrinks while the bases become as big as pizza boxes, ballparks shrink, too, everything in favor of the offense. Pitchers may lose their minds over this stuff, depending on how it is activated.

At the same time, umpires, most of them at least, are human, and sometimes that star player, say an Aaron Judge, gets the benefit of the call. Since Judge is so much bigger than your average ballplayer, a mountain of a man, will his official strike zone grow bigger with the ABS system? It will be fascinating to watch.

And I know sometimes veteran pitchers get that “Walker Buehler’’ call, but I don’t think that happens as much now as when I was watching Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine paint the black of the plate, a plate that sometimes seemed bigger than 17 inches. I think today’s plate, for the most part, has shrunk considerably from that plate, and I think now the pitchers will be more than happy to see it at a true 17 inches width … again, if the measurements are accurate. I’m waiting to see how that goes.

“I would only let certain hitters challenge unless it comes down to the last inning,’’ the evaluator added. “You can’t let a selfish hitter challenge early in the game because he does not want to punch out on a borderline strike. You have to be smart, pick and choose.’’

I’m guessing this will create a new position for the Nerds: Director of ABS, most likely someone who has an indoor hitting facility, who once played Independent Ball and was a volunteer coach at a D-2 college, who can replace a veteran baseball coach who was actually able to teach the pitcher how to throw strikes, not balls.

Perhaps the importance of command will return to clip that box and that is a good thing. Time and technology march on, my friends.

I think the fans will enjoy seeing the ball or strike decision quickly on the video board, another shiny toy to look at for the attention deficit fan. That display can also be sponsored by a betting firm and perhaps it will be part of the betting system, over-under on successful challenges. Also, for bettors and the final result of the game, it is one less thing, a key pitch decision not in the hands of a human so the outcome is not left to any degree of chance.

The bottom line is that the ever-present box on TV has created this entire ABS environment.

“What’s really interesting,’’ the evaluator concluded, “is you will no longer have the rookie pitcher who makes a great pitch against Bryce Harper or some other superstar like Aaron Judge, and it’s called a ball all the time.’’

Indeed. Time to stop whining.