Major League Baseball

Is it time for MLB to create an umpire appeal system?

Updated May. 4, 2022 8:01 p.m. ET

By Ben Verlander
FOX Sports MLB Analyst

It’s time for a change in Major League Baseball.

When it comes to "change," however, baseball doesn’t historically move very quickly. It often takes a while for the sport to adjust and adapt with the times.

The time has come, though, for MLB to make some changes when it comes to how balls and strikes are called.

Technology has come a long way in the 100-plus years since we first had an umpire behind home plate, tasked with calling out what was a ball and what was a strike.

Today, fans watching at home have the ability to see in real time what is technically a strike and what is technically outside the zone. The umpire behind the plate, however, does not have access to that ball-tracking technology. This has led to more and more fans at home complaining about umpires.

Now, more than ever, we have fans, players and even managers asking for change. Joe Girardi, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, recently called for robo-umps while acknowledging how difficult being an umpire can be.

"It’s not an easy job," he said. "It isn’t. That’s why I’m kind of for the automated strike zone."

The comment from Girardi came the day after Kyle Schwarber was ejected in the ninth-inning of a one-run game Sunday night, with umpire Angel Hernandez calling Schwarber out on strikes on a ball outside the zone.

Because of the inconsistency and variability of human umpires — who call the strike zone differently from person to person and even game to game — outcomes of games are being affected, and players' careers are being affected. It’s time for MLB to do something about it.

To start, I would like to see umpires held accountable for consistently getting calls wrong. When I was a player, if I went 0-for-4 multiple days in a row, I wouldn’t play, and if I kept that up for a while, I'd lose my job. I'm not saying umps should be fired, but when they make a mistake, there needs to be some correction and consequence.

Now, I’m not exactly team robo-ump. I think there are some other ways to go about it.

For instance, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander responded to the tweet of Girardi’s comments and lobbied for an appeal system.

I like this. It’s sort of like what we see in tennis.

In a tennis match, there's a line judge calling whether the ball is in or out, but if a player believes the call is wrong, they can ask for an appeal in real time, and it's determined within seconds whether they are right.

This could work in baseball. There would still be an umpire behind the plate making the calls, but in real time, the batter and pitcher would have the ability to appeal an individual pitch call.

If a player's appeal is deemed correct, he can appeal again in the game. But if he is determined to be wrong, he loses that privilege. That would prevent anyone from getting too challenge-happy.

This wouldn’t slow down the game significantly, and it wouldn’t happen constantly during a game, but it would provide a way to correct an egregious mistake by the umpire.

Who knows if this or something like it will ever happen, but I do know it’s time for MLB to do something. Robo-umps have been tested at several levels of the minor leagues, and people are only getting more frustrated and more vocal about wanting a change from the current system.

It’s time for baseball to keep up with the times. It’s time to get it right.

Now it’s just a matter of how and when.

Ben Verlander is an MLB Analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the "Flippin' Bats" podcast. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Verlander was an All-American at Old Dominion University before he joined his brother, Justin, in Detroit as a 14th-round pick of the Tigers in 2013. He spent five years in the Tigers organization. Follow him on Twitter @BenVerlander.