Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer called out the automatic ball-strike system that Major League Baseball is experimenting with. In the Blue Jays’ February 26 Spring Training game, the St. Louis Cardinals made two challenges against the eight-time MLB All-Star.
Center fielder Lars Nootbaar’s challenge turned one of Scherzer’s strikes to a ball. Meanwhile, the three-time Cy Young Award winner tried overturning a ball, but the ABS decided otherwise.
As The Athletic’s Jason Stark wrote, Scherzer said, “We're going so far down the wormhole. Can we just play baseball? We're humans. Can we just be judged by humans? Do we really need to disrupt the game? I think humans are defined by humans.”
Furthermore, Scherzer expressed his belief on MLB umpires, who will still call out balls and strikes during the season. The ABS is under testing during Spring Training but will not be implemented once the games that count start. However, pitchers, hitters, or catchers can challenge the call by tapping their head after a pitch. For now, Scherzer won’t have to worry about it during regular season games.
-Lance Fernandez