Rob Manfred discussed rule changes, MLB streaming, minor league issues and more at the owners meetings Thursday.
theathletic.com
MLB is
testing a modified challenge system in the minors this year,
which allows teams to appeal to the automated ball-strike system if they disagree with the home plate umpire’s call.
“We’re continuing to experiment in the minor leagues,” Manfred said. “Big kind of development in the challenge-system alternative. The idea of using two different formats is a big change this year. Went down and saw the challenge system, I have to say, I saw three challenges in the minor league game, the first one was so darn fast, I missed it. ‘What happened?’
“I mean, it was like four seconds, literally. I kind of like that. I mean, four seconds is a pretty good replay change. So you know, we need to continue to work on that. There are difficult issues surrounding the strike zone that affect outcomes on the field. And we need to make sure we understand those before we jump off that bridge.”