Tampa Bay Rays catcher Travis d'Arnaud is going to bat for the guys he shares space with behind the dish ... telling TMZ Sports the MLB needs to keep human umpires!!!
Of course, the league is flirting with the idea of ditching humans for robot umps -- ones that'll call balls and strikes based on an electronic strike zone.
In fact, the MLB is reportedly keeping a close eye on the independent Atlantic League, which just implemented the automated ump system.
But, when we got d'Arnaud out in NYC on Wednesday .