Perhaps it’s not surprising, but several members of the Washington Nationals are not in favor of a robot uprising replacing an age-old part of their game.
They’re in no imminent danger of a takeover at Nationals Park, but just a week before the team’s Wednesday night game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, an automated system had handled the duty of calling balls and strikes at two games played by the San Rafael Pacifics, an independent league team in California.
Former major league outfielder Eric Byrnes announced the computer analysis of each pitch with the flair of a regular umpire.