Baseball is experimenting with quite a number of possible rule changes in the minor leagues. They include a pitch clock, larger bases and the subject of this article, a ball/strike challenge system.
Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com recently wrote about one game where the ball/strike challenge system was used, Saturday, August 20 in the Triple-A International League between Charlotte (a White Sox affiliate) and Syracuse (a Mets affiliate).
Here’s how the system is designed:
In the challenge system, the home-plate umpire calls balls and strikes in the traditional manner, but teams can appeal to the Hawk-Eye “robot ump” on certain calls they deem to be incorrect.