MLB to try out ‘robot umpires’ in pre-season

The robots are coming — to spring training.

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Wednesday that a computerized camera system will be used to call balls and strikes this spring.

It will be “more accurate than a human being standing there,” he told the Fox Business Network.

MLB began experimenting with the computerized strike zone last season in the independent Atlantic League and the Arizona Fall League. Plate umpires, equipped with earpieces, crouched behind home plate and signalled the ball or strike calls as determined by a camera system.

Manfred said the so-called “robot umpires” also will be used in some minor leagues this season.

“We believe that, over the long haul, it’s going to be more accurate,” Manfred said, per ESPN. “It will reduce controversy and will be good for the game.”

Spring training games in the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues get underway in late February.

Meanwhile, Manfred said he won’t force the Houston Astros or Boston Red Sox to vacate their recent World Series titles.

Manfred said the sign stealing scandal that has enveloped those teams doesn’t change anything.

“I think the answer, from our perspective, is to be transparent about what the investigation showed and let our fans make their own decision about what happened,” Manfred said.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution asking MLB to take away the 2017 (Astros) and 2018 (Red Sox) titles and award them instead to the Dodgers.

Manfred said it’s “absolutely unclear” that the Dodgers would have won either series.

Last week, the Astros were fined US$5 million and lost upcoming draft picks after an investigation showed the team used technology to steal opponent’s signs in 2017.

The Red Sox remain under investigation.