Major League Baseball (MLB) via its website announced that, following three years of testing, an automated strike zone is coming to some Triple-A ballparks in 2022.
Triple-A is the highest level of the minor leagues.
The first professional league to use the system was the independent Atlantic League in 2019. Following the cancellation of the 2020 Minor League Baseball (MiLB) season, the Low-A Southeast League utilized the system in 2021 and will continue to use it in 2022.
MLB said that the so-called robot umpires would be used at some spring training ballparks in the 2022 season.
The Atlantic League will return to human umpires calling balls and strikes in 2022.
"The test rules and equipment are transitional by definition," commented the league president Rick White. "Some elements remain, others are tweaked, and still others are abandoned."
