Why MLB Should Keep Human Umpires in the ABS Era

Contrary to certain hyperbolic social media posts and other loud opinions on the internet, Major League Baseball umpires do a great job of calling balls and strikes. 

Imperfect, of course, but still great. And the data proves it.

It might not seem that way to fans, because we typically notice umpires only when they make a call we don't like, or on the rare occasion when they make an egregious mistake. It's true that some umpires could show a better attitude about how they perform their jobs when questioned. Fans certainly use umpire pushback as a reason to stereotype them.

But umpires as a group have been getting better at calling balls and strikes since tracking technology, like what we have now, was introduced about 18 years ago. And humans should continue to work behind the plate calling balls and strikes. The introduction of MLB's automated ball-strike system in 2026 should not mean removing human element entirely on these calls.

MLB umpires called 92.83% of taken pitches accurately in 2025, the best on record. Their success rate has been no worse than 92.2% since 2021, and it's been at least 90.5% since 2017.

In 2007, the league recorded umpire accuracy calling balls and strikes at 82.8%. If the major leagues follow the same trajectory as the minors when it comes to ABS, enough of the bad calls won't happen anymore. Players will be happier. Umpires will be happier. Fans will be happier. Removing human umpires entirely would be trying to fix a problem that doesn't actually exist. It's just not necessary to have every damn pitch put up for correction by a machine.

ABS will help improve ball-and-strike calling even more. So much so, that once players and umpires have more experience using it, the league ought to determine it unnecessary to scrap human umpires entirely, as many critics say they want.

So, no, we won't have fully automated umpiring on balls and strikes "in a few years." Human umps are just too effective. Player challenges will correct most of the worst errors. And it will be plain that MLB has the best system possible.

Keep the human element, but use computers as an aid, as we do already. Trust the humans, but verify with machines.

Umpires have been a part of MLB since the beginning. A hybrid system allows for the human element to remain. Players are human. Umpires should be allowed the same courtesy. If MLB actually removed humans calling balls and strikes, they might become tempted to do it on the bases as well. All-robot umps? This ain’t Blernsball in “Futurama.” Robots officiating wouldn't necessarily make for better baseball. Machines are not infallible. And when they do make mistakes, who would be there for the player to argue with? Some inhuman Ai chat? The heck with that noise.

It's true that any ump can make a wrong call. Sometimes they make egregious errors. Some umpires are not very good at balls and sticks, period. A few extreme examples have come up this past week in a few Spring Training games. Shrieking critics sounded the alarm when one umpire in particular had a poor game; on five straight appeals, the ABS overturned his calls every time. It was bad.

The response by the public was even worse. One media account on YouTube that's actually affiliated with MLB incorrectly labeled the ump's performance as having "five straight pitches" overturned. Another kind of human error. How embarrassing for them, and misleading for their consumers.

What fans need now is a little patience. Let the professionals work within the new ABS system. It's likely to be very helpful in making baseball a better game.