Humans suck at being fair. It turns out we just do. The Korea Baseball Organization knows this. That’s why they brought robots into the game for the 2024 season. Not the sci-fi killer kind, but sensors. The Automatic Ball-Strike system, or ABS.
It uses pitch-tracking and cameras. The tech figures out if a ball crosses the strike zone. A human umpire stays behind the plate, yeah. They still announce the call. But they look at the screen first. ABS gives them the data.
The goal was accuracy. Also, less bias. Two years out, the data is in. University of Michigan researchers studied it. The results? Uncomfortable.
Star hitters got wrecked. Their stats tanked compared to previous years. Specifically the parts that depend on whether an umpire calls a ball a strike. They walked less. Struck out more. Reached base less often.
Before the robots showed up, these players got perks. Subtle ones. Umpires were nice to famous faces.
“Before ABS… umpires may have given more favorable_calls on borderline pitches,” said Jimin Song, a co-author of the study.
The bias was real. The players didn’t get worse at hitting. The calls got stricter. For everyone.
Pitchers? Different story. Their stats didn’t show the same pattern. Maybe the game just varies too much for them. Or maybe the sample size was small. Doesn’t matter. The hitter data is clear.
Richard Paulsen, another study author, pointed out something obvious. Some calls are objective. Out of bounds. Ball or strike. You can automate that. We all saw bad calls decide games before. It happened.
Does this mean robots will judge our work meetings? Probably not. But the principle sticks. Status matters. Too much. If you want fair results, blind the process. Use data. Strip the power dynamic.
Will robots replace human umpires entirely?
Unlikely. Humans handle nuance. Subjective stuff stays in human hands. ABS is here to stay, even in Major League Baseball. But don’t expect the plate umpires to vanish. They’re still useful. For now.
Just don’t assume they’re impartial.
