Contrary to certain exaggerated social media posts and other loud opinions on the internet, Major League Baseball umpires do a great job of calling balls and strikes.
Of course it’s imperfect, but it’s still great. And the data proves it.
It might not seem that way to fans. Because we usually only notice a referee when he makes a call we don’t like or, on rare occasions, he makes a serious mistake. It’s true that some referees may have a better attitude about how they do their job when questioned. Fans certainly use referee pushback as a reason to stereotype.
But since tracking technology like the one we use now was introduced about 18 years ago, umpires, as a group, have improved in their ability to call balls and strike. And man must continue to work behind the plate calling balls and strikes. MLB’s introduction of an automated ball-striking system in 2026 doesn’t mean it will completely remove the human element from these calls.
MLB umpires correctly called 92.83% of pitches in 2025, the highest level on record. Their success rate has not been bad at less than 92.2% since 2021, and has maintained at least 90.5% since 2017.
In 2007, the accuracy of umpires calling balls and strikes was recorded at 82.8% in the league. If the major leagues followed the same trajectory as the minor leagues when it comes to ABS, there wouldn’t be enough bad decisions happening anymore. Players will be happier. The referee will be happier. Fans will be happier. Eliminating human referees entirely would be an attempt to solve a problem that does not actually exist. You don’t have to put all the pitches up for the machine to correct.
ABS helps further improve ball and strike calls. So once players and referees have more experience using them, the league should decide that it’s unnecessary to completely scrap human referees, as many critics want.
So we won’t have fully automated umpiring of balls and strikes “in a few years.” Human umps are too effective. Player challenges fix most of the worst errors. And it should be clear that MLB has the best system possible.
Keep the human element, but use the computer as an aid, as we already did. Trust people, but verify with machines.
Umpires have been a part of MLB from the beginning. Hybrid systems retain the human element. Players are human. The same courtesy should be afforded to referees. If MLB actually eliminated humans calling balls and strikes, they might be tempted to do the same on base. Fully robotic pump? This isn’t Blernsball from “Futurama.” Having robots officiate does not necessarily make baseball better. There are no errors in the machine. And who are players to argue when they make a mistake? Inhuman AI chat? What the hell is that noise?
It is true that any referee can make a wrong decision. Sometimes they make serious errors. Some referees are not very good with the ball and stick. A few extreme examples emerged from a few spring training games last week. Screaming critics sounded the alarm when one referee in particular played poorly. In five successive appeals, the ABS overturned his request each time. It was bad.
The public reaction was even worse. In fact, one MLB-affiliated media account on YouTube incorrectly attributed the umpire’s performance to “five consecutive pitches” being overturned. Another kind of human error. How embarrassing for them and misleading for consumers.
All fans need now is a little patience. Let the experts work within your new ABS system. I think it will go a long way in making baseball a better game.
