Rob Manfred says PITCHf/x technology is ‘much closer’ to being able to call a strike zone

Rob Manfred spoke with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal about many pressing topics in baseball at the moment — expansion, pace of play, and length of seasons among them — but in the middle of the conversation they touched on the ever-present strike zone question.

About whether there will be an automated strike zone any time soon, Manfred didn’t commit to anything. Instead, he acknowledged that any massive change with multiple possible outcomes is one that should be approached cautiously. He also addressed the reality that the umpires would have to be on board with it from a game-management perspective — but that those opinions can change, just as they did with instant replay rules.

However, the most important comment he made regarding any change when it comes to calling balls and strikes is the feasibility of it with MLB’s technology.

I think we are much closer than we were a year ago to having the technological capability to actually call the strike zone. We have worked very hard on PITCHf/x ... The accuracy is way up — way better than what it was a year ago. The technology continues to move ... and it actually moved a little faster than I might have thought.

While on the surface that seems positive (the league has the technology to make a change should they want!) there’s also a major potential speed bump that Manfred (understandably) didn’t bring up in this interview.

There is currently a lawsuit pending against the league for patent infringement, trade secret theft, and breach of contract by the company that originally developed the PITCHf/x technology with Major League Baseball. One has to imagine that they are closely watching every step of that case not just for the overall fallout about which data and tech they own, but also in regards to what plans are or are not feasible in the short-term based on potential fallout of that case.

Pretty tough to rely on technology to track and call pitches for 30 teams over many years when that technology might not even be yours to unilaterally own and make decisions about. Which then calls into question whether, should they lose, the league would be amenable to using a shared piece of technology and a dataset they don’t own by themselves to call games.

Lot’s of potential for MLB’s plans to be stopped cold, and not just because the umpires or fans could be mad about another rule change.