Like it or hate it (Paul Skene’s leaning towards the latter), an automated strike zone comes to Major League Baseball, probably before rather than later.
This year, the first thing in which players could challenge balls and strikes during spring training, after many years of experimentation in smaller leagues.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he liked it should be in the regular season of 2026, but Skenes recently said he is “happy” that it is not there this year.
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Pittsburgh Pirates starts Pitcher Paul Skene’s (30) seats in the first place against Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. (Benny Sieu-usa Today Sports)
“I like the human aspect of the game because I think there are games where the referee’s zone is big and there are games where the referee’s zone is small,” Pittsburgh Pirates Ace said. “You bring the automatic strike, it completely devalues framing that effectively eliminates the catch position. I have mixed feelings towards it. I like the human aspect of the game, but there is certainly something to say about being objective with the strike.”
In the spring, teams will face two challenges per year. Battle, but they are able to preserve every challenge that is won. Only the dough, pitcher or catcher can challenge a call, and it should be immediately after the call without the help of the bench or other players.
Paul Skenes, No. 30 of Pittsburgh Pirates, delivers a pitch in the first place during the game against the New York Mets at PNC Park on July 5, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Justin Berl/Getty Images)
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The comments of Skene repeat them from the future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer.
“I’m a little skeptical of this. I get what we’re trying to do here, but I think Major League Umpires are really good,” Scherzer said last month. “They are really good. So what are we actually changing here? We know that there will be strikes that change for balls, and balls that change to strikes … so we will basically be smooth. Then we actually do to improve the game? Are the judges really so bad? I don’t think so.”
“Can we just play baseball?” he added. “We are people. Can we just be judged by people? Do we really need to disturb the game? I think people are defined by people.”
It is another major change in the sport ordered by Manfred, which implemented a pitch, larger bases and shift limits in 2023. However, fans appear to like the changes as participation has risen in each of the last two years.
Pittsburgh Pirates Start Pitcher Paul Skene (30) delivers a pitch in his big league debut against Chicago Cubs during the first place at PNC Park. (Charles Leclaire-usa Today Sports)
SKENES was named NL Rookie of the Year in 2024 and ended up in third place in the NL CY Young Award vote with a 1.96 era 11.5 K/9. A signed rookie card that included the patch he had on his MLB debut sold just for $ 1.1 million, which is more than his salary of $ 875,000 for this year.
