Baseball to introduce 'robot umpires'-'pitch clock' starting ne
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ABS Detects Whether a Ball is a StrikeKBO "Same strike zone for all"
A pitch clock behind home plate at a Major League Baseball (MLB) ballpark. MLB pitchers have 15 seconds to pitch when there are no runners on base.
Starting next year, 'robots' will call balls and strikes in South Korean professional baseball games. And, like Major League Baseball (MLB), there will be giant clocks in ballparks.
The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) announced on Monday that it has decided to introduce the Automatic Pitching System (ABS) and pitch clock from the 2024 season. The KBO plans to utilize the ABS and pitch clock from next year's exhibition games.
The KBO, which has been piloting ABS in the Futures League (second division) since 2020, said, "After four years of ABS advancement, ball and strike judgment has become more precise and consistent. "Introducing ABS to the first team will allow us to apply the same strike zone to all players, which will make the game fairer," he said. The United States has implemented ABS in the minor leagues down to Triple-A, but there are no plans to utilize it in MLB next year. Japan has not yet announced plans to implement ABS.
MLB is a year ahead of South Korea on the pitch clock. MLB began playing games this season with a clock behind home plate that displays the pitching time limit. Pitchers had 15 seconds to throw the ball with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners in scoring position. The effect was clear. This year, MLB games ended in an average of 2 hours and 42 minutes. That's the fastest pace since 1984 (2 hours, 39 minutes).
The Korean Professional Baseball Organization has decided to implement a pitch clock as well, but it's undecided how many seconds it will be. According to a KBO official, "We studied the average interval between pitches. We also analyzed detailed indicators such as the average number of strikes and when they were ready to hit. Based on this, we have several proposals," said a KBO official, "and we're looking at which one is more suitable for our league." 토토사이트