PREEMPTIVE STRIKE

A TrackMan radar is perched above home plate at every Atlantic League stadium to register every pitch.

UMPIRES

▪ In the Atlantic League, umpires still have to prepare to call every pitch because sometime the radar fails to track it. In those cases, the umpire is charged with calling the pitch.

▪ Umpires can overrule the computer on pitches that bounce, and they also are responsible for determining if the batter swung (which is not tracked by the radar).

▪ An ear-piece feeds the umpire ball/strike calls with a small enough lag that at some parks, the delay to the umpire relaying the call is almost imperceptible.

PITCHERS

▪ The computerized strike zone calls more high and low strikes than a human umpire. Power pitchers can feast up in the strike zone.

▪ Command-oriented pitchers who like to work in-and-out find that they no longer get that