Sugar Land Skeeters to debut automated ball-strike technology

Home plate umpire Brian deBrauwere, left, calls a strike given to him by a radar system over an earpiece as Liberty Division's Tyler Ladendorf, right, of the High Point Rockers, strikes out to Freedom Division's Mitch Atkins, of the York Revolution, during the first inning of the Atlantic League All-Star minor league baseball game, Wednesday, July 10, 2019, in York, Pa. deBrauwere wore the earpiece connected to an iPhone in his ball bag which relayed ball and strike calls upon receiving it from a TrackMan computer system that uses Doppler radar. The independent Atlantic League became the first American professional baseball league to let the computer call balls and strikes during the all star game. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) less Home plate umpire Brian deBrauwere, left, calls a strike given to him by a radar system over an earpiece as Liberty Division's Tyler Ladendorf, right, of the High Point Rockers, strikes out to Freedom ... more Photo: Julio Cortez, Associated Press Photo: Julio Cortez, Associated Press Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Sugar Land Skeeters to debut automated ball-strike technology 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

The Atlantic League will use the Automated Ball-Strike System for the rest of the season, the league announced.

The system starts around the league on Thursday and will make its debut with the Sugar Land Skeeters on July 30.

The purpose of the ABS is to provide a reliable and precise “rule-book” strike zone for pitchers and hitters, according to the league.

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Umpires will not be entirely assisted when calling balls and strikes behind the plate. They will still have to follow their judgment on certain things like check swings.

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The announcement comes almost a couple of weeks after the league introduced four new experimental playing rules. One of them includes making the check-swing rule more batter-friendly.

The ABS system was used at the Atlantic League’s All-Star game earlier this month.

The league has an experimental rule-testing agreement with MLB.

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