Replay technology has been part of Major League Baseball for over 15 years ago now, but the league’s ball-strike challenge experiment is a step too far for one future Hall of Famer.
Max Scherzer, making his Blue Jays spring training debut, was on the wrong side of MLB’s automated ball-strike challenge system (ABS) twice on Tuesday afternoon.
To the three-time Cy Young winner, the game has possibly veered too far into using technology to assist umpires make their calls.
Under the ABS rules in spring training, which has been tested in Triple-A, a pitcher, catcher or batter can challenge a pitch, and within seconds, teams will find out if they are correct or not.
“Can we just play baseball?” Scherzer said to The Athletic. “We’re humans. Can we just be judged by humans? Do we really need to disrupt the game? I think humans are defined by humans.”
Scherzer was first on the losing end of a call during the third batter of the matchup against the Cardinals when Lars Nootbaar challenged a 1-1 pitch that was initially ruled a strike, but then ruled to be 2.3 inches outside when the St. Louis center fielder alertly tapped his helmet to question the call.
One inning later, Scherzer appeared to get duped by his own catcher Alejandro Kirk’s framing when a 1-0 pitch was ruled low to JJ Wetherholt.
Scherzer challenged the call but it was upheld upon review.
Max Scherzer got his first ABS challenge wrong and decided he’s gonna hate it forever pic.twitter.com/R3JBOecGFn https://t.co/Eav66cRr7B
— Goldschmidt Happened (@GoldyHappens) February 25, 2025
Funny enough though, Scherzer still recorded punchouts in each at-bat.
It wasn’t the first time 40-year-old got to experience the ABS system firsthand after he witnessed it during his own Triple-A rehab start while pitching with the Rangers last year.
That time, he was on the winning side of a strikeout.
“We’re going so far down the wormhole,” Scherzer added Tuesday.
“So we’re going to basically be even,” he continued So are we actually going to improve the game? Are the umpires really that bad? I don’t think so.”
"The call is surprisingly correct." ????
— MLB (@MLB) February 25, 2025
(MLB x @TMobile) pic.twitter.com/jtDwTzchYQ
On the opposite side of the spectrum — and country — in the Cactus League, home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski called a ball in the seventh inning of the Padres-Angels game that was eventually upheld on replay.
“The call is surprisingly correct,” Muchlinski said over the PA system, much to the delight of the fans at Peoria Stadium.
Challenges aside, Scherzer allowed one run on one hit and struck out four over two innings.