Oh, the humanity! Why MLB needs to scrap plans for automated ump system | Press Box Wag

Rob Manfred needs to drop it with all this robo-ump stuff.

The baseball commissioner said after meeting with owners a few days ago that the automated ball-strike (ABS) system used in the minors is at least another year away from coming to the majors, maybe in 2026. But it’s coming.

Enough already. Bad idea.

Of all the changes to the game in recent years that have eroded individuality — from the manager’s autonomy to pitching and hitting mechanics — this one risks scrubbing the sport of a fundamental human element.

And, as Reds reliever Lucas Sims said, “That’s part of the beauty of sports. Every sport has some sort of human element to determining what’s right and wrong.”

The human element is the only reason to play sports, to watch sports, certainly to pay money to watch sports.

That means human flaws, in the field, at the plate, on the mound and, yes, occasionally behind the catcher.

The goal of a sports league should never be to perfect its players, managers or even its officiating.

Perfection in sports is all the imperfection inherent within the games and in the people who play them. Moments of great success — whether home runs, triples, cycles, no-hitters — have the chance to thrill specifically because of all the failure built into the backdrop.

Occasionally fix what’s broken. Clean up messes. Absolutely.

But perfection at the expense of the human element is a bad idea. It’s sanitizes and dulls down a lot of the drama and entertainment of the pursuit.

MLB already has removed a lot of the human interaction, including takeout slides at second, collision plays at the plate and a lot of the “conversations” between managers and umpires.

Certainly, addressing player safety concern is laudable (although nobody hated the collision rule being called the “Buster Posey Rule” more than Posey). And maybe we don’t actually need bases thrown or caps kicked across the field by managers to be entertained at the ballpark.

But removing human eyes and judgment from the officiating? Because we think the umpires aren’t good enough? Because Statcast says so?

“What’s the end goal here?” Sims said. “What’s the benefit to it?”

Criticizing umpires is the lowest of low-hanging fruit in baseball, just ahead of ripping the manager for the lineup.

Sims, who points out umps are the best in the world at what they do and get almost every call right, said that bad call here or there doesn’t tend to impact the outcome. Certainly not more than the pitcher or hitter, whose job is to adjust to that and myriad other factors to determine the outcomes themselves.

He said a limited challenge system might work. “But for every single pitch — that’s terrible,” he said. “Absolutely not.

“There’s certain art aspects to it that make that game what it is. It’s a beautiful game.”

To Manfred’s credit, he said he has listened to players expressing similar thoughts, and that the introduction of the ABS system would be in the form of a challenge system.

“At least as a starting point,” he said.

And then what?

Catcher Austin Barnes of the Dodgers said he’d rather not see the system implemented at all.

Beyond simply liking the game the way it is now, Barnes said if the system is eventually used to call every pitch, “People will probably try to manipulate it somehow. Teams are smart. They’ll figure out ways to clip corners with a pitch that’s not really hittable.”

Or that doesn’t remotely look like a strike.

Sports are human endeavors by design, by nature, by necessity of the reason behind inventing the games in the first place. The more automation, the less human element, the less reason to watch.

“In football you might get a questionable phantom hold call or something like that, but it ultimately doesn’t determine the entire game,” Sims said.

Imagine trying to automate fouls in basketball.

“You gonna put stuff in basketball players’ uniforms that tell if they got touched?” Sims said. “I’m just not in favor of it.

“I’ve gotten calls. I’ve had calls missed. It happens all the time,” he said. “It’s part of the adversity of sports.”

Part of the humanity.

“All right, bad call. It sucks, but figure it out,” he said. “On to the next pitch.”

The Big Number: 43

That’s how many individual player games the Reds have lost this season, through Sunday, because of players being hit on the hand or wrist by pitches. And counting.

That includes Christian Encarnacion-Strand (broken wrist) and TJ Friedl (broken thumb), who currently are on the IL, having missed a combined 35.

Those who missed games because of day-to-day HBP swelling and soreness: Tyler Stephenson (four), Jake Fraley (three), Jonathan India (one).

No wonder manager David Bell threw his chair — twice — in the dugout Tuesday night when Fraley was hit in the first inning and forced to leave the game.

“And that frustration wasn’t directed at anyone,” Bell said. “It was just more that it’s cost our players. It’s cost our team.”

Friedl, who expects to start taking simulated-game at-bats in the next week or so, said he sees no specific reason or pattern for why Reds players have been hit in that area so many times with such severe results this season.

"The rate at which we've been hit in the hand is just unlucky and unfortunate," he said. "Definitely no one's doing it on purpose. It's just a freak thing."

No Way, Shohei

Maybe it’s no coincidence, but by the time the Reds snared their first set of back-to-back wins in a month and evened the season series against the Dodgers at 3-3 on Saturday night, they’d held the man some consider the best player in history to 4-for-23 hitting (.179) with six strikeouts and a .631 OPS in those six games.

Only the Blue Jays (.154) have held Shohei Ohtani to a lower average or lower OPS (.599) this season — and the Jays had to face him only three times. By comparison, Ohtani went 2-for-13 against Toronto; he went 2-for-14 against the Reds until his final at-bat in their fourth meeting.

So how have the Reds done what few if any other teams have done to the majors’ top hitter this year? What’s the Reds’ secret?

Pitcher Hunter Greene said it’s about pitching aggressively and trusting their big-league selves on the mound. “We’re all at the same level,” he said.

Catcher Tyler Stephenson said location (think upper inside part of the zone) and changing looks has been key.

Stephenson also seemed grateful for the question with a game left to play against the Dodgers.

“Thanks for jinxing that,” he said.

He Said It

“There’s some guys on this team that have been on teams that are supposed to be good, and you’re like, ‘It’ll come, it’ll come.' And then it never comes. We do need to play with some urgency for sure. But we’re not panicking by any means.”

*Reds reliever Emilio Pagán, a few days before the Reds beat the Dodgers on consecutive days to win back-to-back games for the first time in a month and snap a streak of eight straight series losses.

Pagán has pitched in the postseason with the Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego Padres and Minnesota Twins.

Fast Times at GABP for India

Jonathan India’s up-and-down start to his season included a three-hit game Friday punctuated by his biggest hit of the year: a decisive fifth-inning grand slam to help beat the Dodgers.

The 2021 NL Rookie of the Year has 51 career home runs, but three of them have come with the bases loaded and all of those at home.

That matches former teammate Joey Votto for third on the list of most slams since the ballpark opened in 2003, just one off the lead shared by Adam Dunn and Scooter Gennett.

Votto took 17 seasons to reach the mark, India less than four.

After he added a two-run single Sunday, India is 9-for-29 (.310) with two walks 30 RBIs and a 1.016 with the bases loaded in his career.

Bouncing Bubba

It’s possible no team in baseball likes Bubba Thompson more than the Reds.

One of the fastest two or three players in baseball, Thompson was a defensive and base-running depth guy for a Reds team built for extreme speed until getting sent to the minors three weeks ago and outrighted off the roster in recent days.

But when other teams passed on him in the waiver process, the Reds were able to keep the former first-draft pick — a guy the like so much they actually acquired him twice during the offseason.

They claimed him on waivers in late October from the Royals, then put him on waivers a couple months later in a series of roster moves. Then after Thompson was claimed from the Reds by the Yankees — and subsequently by the Twins from the Yankees — the Reds nabbed him again when the Twins tried to sneak him through waivers again.

That’s five waiver claims by four teams in six months.

“Twice with the same team. Ain’t that something?” said Thompson, who lurks at Double-A Chattanooga awaiting another chance to run in the majors.

“It’s like a video game,” he said. “But that’s the thing about a business, man. I’m just going to hang on for the ride. It’s a story. It’s a story to tell one day.

“You’ve gotta have a story, right? To make it sweet.”

Did You Know

Five Reds have stolen more than five bases this year, including MLB leader Elly De La Cruz with 31. But only one of those five has not been caught.

With Friday night’s seventh-inning steal of second against the Dodgers, Santiago Espinal improved to 6-for-6.

That sixth steal not only tied the infielder’s career high, but the last time he reached that mark — during his 2022 All-Star season — he also was caught stealing six times.

#Baseball #AlsoReallyBigBases

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why MLB needs to scrap plans for automated ump system | Press Box Wag