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A Major League Baseball umpire might want to consider an urgent eye exam.
The automated ball-strike system (ABS) delivered another laughable moment to baseball enthusiasts this past Thursday.
During a matchup between the Braves and the Tigers, Atlanta’s right-handed pitcher Bryce Elder delivered a pitch that sailed perfectly down the center to Detroit’s Matt Vierling, only for home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz to surprisingly call it a ball.
Without hesitation, catcher Drake Baldwin contested the decision, and the ABS confirmed that the pitch was indeed a strike.
Upon seeing just how squarely the ball landed within the strike zone, Tigers’ play-by-play commentator Jason Benetti couldn’t resist a humorous, one-word response.
“It is…yikes,” Benetti said.
“It is the reason for the challenge system,” he added.
The reversed call led to a Vierling strikeout in what went on to be a 5-2 Braves win.
It should be noted that the ABS challenge system isn’t just calling out umpires who are way off. It has also made an example of players.
The Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. has even said his challenges are so bad that “you gotta laugh.”
His assessment came after a horrible challenge on a 3-2 pitch in the ninth inning — which was not close to being outside the zone — in the Yankees’ 12-4 win over the Astros on April 24.
“You just gotta laugh, at that point,” Chisholm said. “We were winning, it’s a kid’s game. You got to laugh at some things. Sometimes you just got to laugh at yourself and walk off. Did get fined a thousand dollars, but it’s OK.”