Rob Manfred goes in-depth on MLB’s pursuit of an automated strike zone

NEW YORK — A day before MLB’s 2023 season begins with a slew of rule changes, commissioner Rob Manfred called the automated ball-strike system “the next big one that’s on the agenda.”

“I do think that improved application of technology in the calling of balls and strikes over the long haul is a really good thing,” Manfred said.

But on Wednesday afternoon, Manfred also identified two reservations about introducing the automated ball and strike system, or ABS for short, and seemed to hint that he’s favoring one of the two forms of ABS over the other.

“No. 1, there is a body of the MLBPA unit … they refer to them as ‘framing catchers,’ that kind of make their living in the major leagues on their ability to frame pitches,” Manfred said during a luncheon hosted by the Paley Center for Media. “And you know, unions are kind of one for all, for one, I like unions, it’s a good thing, and it’s sort of a nice concept. And you have to understand that when you’re making a change, and it arguably could eliminate a certain kind of player — not a guy or two, but a certain kind of player — that’s an issue.”

The second issue is that ABS, at least thus far, interprets the strike zone differently than umpires.

“(Umpires) are really skilled and dramatically more consistent than 15 years ago as a result of the application of technology in the training process,” Manfred told moderator Tom Verducci. “Literally after every game, they get an email with the pitches they missed. They must log in and look at the ones they missed. And there’s commentary about how they missed, and why they missed.

“But what they call — you know, the rulebook strike zone’s a rectangle, above the middle of the plate — they call an oval. So they don’t call that inside corner, and that outside corner. There’s a reason they don’t call it: because you can’t hit that. Okay, so while we have the technology, it’s kind of right — accurate — there are issues that we need to work through before it’s ready for prime time.”

MLB is testing two applications of ABS in the minor leagues. With one, the umpire is told on every pitch what to call. The other is a challenge system, where a team has three challenges to an umpire’s call per game.

Manfred hinted that using ABS on every pitch, the more invasive approach, is less palatable.

“In the minor leagues, we have tested the umpire using (ABS) for every pitch in the game,” Manfred said. “Players know these things because they’re players — it does cause a problem with these corner pitches … because nobody has ever been trained to treat those as strikes, or hit them.”

But the challenge system, meanwhile, carries an appeal that’s similar to instant replay.

“The theory of instant replay was: fix the big miss,” Manfred said. “And we decided, well, why don’t we try the same theory? We’ll give pitchers, catchers, and hitters all the right to challenge a…