The Sports Grouch

With the Super Bowl behind us, let’s look at what’s cookin’ in baseball.

To get the heat off officials over questionable calls, Major League Baseball is turning to technology.

The MLB brainiacs plan to test a camera system for calling balls and strikes in spring training games, a source told ESPN.

Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated MLB would test the system, but plate umpires will still call balls and strikes.

On Fox Business Network, Manfred gave officials no vote of confidence.

He said the ‘camera-based system’ will be ‘more accurate than a human being standing there.’

“We believe over the long haul it’s going to be more accurate,” Manfred said. “It will reduce controversy.”

‘Listen here, ump’

MLB and colleges have been using radar guns to record the speed of pitched balls for years. Why not use technology to end controversies over questionable calls? Or will it just add another dimension for dissent?

Manfred said baseball would start using the camera system in minor league games this year. MLB began experimenting with a computerized strike zone last year in the independent Atlantic League.

Plate umpires wore ear pieces to hear robo-call balls or strikes from a camera.

Manfred said calling this a robot system may be an over-statement.

“The strike zone design is 3-dimensional,” he said. “A camera is better at calling a 3-dimensional strike zone than the human eye.”

Stealing signs

Another issue Grouch fans should be aware of involved MLB sign stealing.

MLB officials say they won’t strip the Houston Astros or Boston Red Sox of their World Series titles.

Manfred said on the Fox Business Network that MLB will honor the ‘long tradition in baseball of not trying to change what happened.’

“I think the answer from our perspective is to be transparent about what the investigation showed and let our fans make their own decision about what happened,” he said.

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a resolution urging the MLB to strip championships from the 2017 Astros and 2018 Red Sox and give them to the LA Dodgers who lost to both in the World Series.

Astros guilty

The MLB confirmed that the Astros illegally used technology to steal opponents’ signs in the 2017 season and World Series. Astros GM Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were suspended, lost 4 draft picks and were fined $5 million.

The Red Sox are also under investigation.

“It’s hard to take the trophy away from somebody who hasn’t been found to do something wrong,” he said.

The Sports Grouch welcomes your email at ChronicleSports@yahoo.com .