San Francisco prospect Jacob Heyward has earned the dubious distinction of being among the first players ejected after arguing a strike called by a robot umpire during Tuesday’s Arizona Fall League game at Salt River Fields.
Fall League games at Salt River are testing the new automated ball-strike system that debuted in July with the independent Atlantic League under the auspices of Major League Baseball. Heyward was ejected by home plate umpire Jose Navas in the fourth inning after taking a curveball for strike three by Twins prospect Dakota Chalmers.
The pitch appeared to break low and inside and barely nicked the corner of the zone, but the ABS system registered it as a strike. Heyward protested as he turned to walk back to the Scottsdale Scorpions’ dugout and Navas can be heard on video telling him “Hey, it wasn’t me,” seconds before tossing Heyward from the game.
Here’s a basic description of how the Automated Ball-Strike system works, according to mlb.com:
“The pitch tracking system at Salt River Fields reads the pitch, then software determines whether the pitch crossed through any part of the strike zone, which automatically adjusts to the height of each player. A ‘ball’ or ‘strike’ audio signal is transmitted to the home-plate umpire, who wears a receiver on his belt and an earpiece.”
METS: Edgardo Alfonzo was dismissed from his role as Brooklyn Cyclones manager, a source confirmed to the New York Daily News, less than six weeks after he led them to a New York-Penn League championship.
Alfonzo accepted the Mets’ offer to remain in the organization as a club ambassador.
Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen and other front-office officials did not respond to a message seeking comment or clarity on Alfonzo’s removal.
Class A Brooklyn won its first outright championship on Sept. 10, 2019 during Alfonzo’s third year as manager. Alfonzo began serving as the Cyclones’ bench coach in 2014. The Mets honored Alfonzo and the Cyclones at Citi Field – a day after they won the championship – with a pregame ceremony.
INDIANS: Catcher Roberto Perez had surgery to remove bone spurs in his right ankle.
The team said Perez underwent the arthroscopic procedure in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The 30-year-old Perez is expected to be fully recovered by spring training in February.
Perez had a career-best season for the Indians, who made him their full-time starter after trading All-Star Yan Gomes to the Washington Nationals in November. Perez batted .239 with 24 homers and 63 RBI in 119 games. He entered the season with just 21 homers.
He also played at a Gold Glove level behind the plate, not allowing a passed ball. Perez threw out a league-high 41 percent of would-be base stealers while handling one of baseball’s best pitching staffs.
Only Bill Dickey (1931), Al Todd (1937) and Johnny Bench (1975) caught more games than Perez without committing a passed ball.
YANKEES: Giancarlo Stanton remained out of the lineup for the third straight game and Aaron Hicks was moved up to third in the batting order for Game 4 of the AL Championship Series against the Houston Astros.
Limited by injuries to 18 games during the regular season, Stanton homered in the series opener and missed the next two games because of a strained right quadriceps.
ASTROS: Manager AJ Hinch says he will remove his team from the field if fans at Yankee Stadium again throw objects at Houston players.
Right fielder Josh Reddick said fans tossed water bottles, baseballs and other objects at him during Game 3 on Tuesday night.
“I will pull the team off the field if we get in that situation again where bottles are being thrown and balls are being thrown and it becomes unruly,” Hinch said Thursday before Game 4. “There’s other ways to support your home team, and this place does as good a job as anybody to trying to police that while also trying to create an environment that’s all pro Yankees. It would be a very ugly scene for baseball, a very ugly scene for the Yankees, if one of our guys was hit by something from the upper deck. Something tragic could happen and nobody wants that.”
New York fans erupted after a replay review changed Edwin Encarnacion’s infield hit leading off the eighth to a groundout. Houston went on to win 4-1 and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“I went out on the field the other day I wanted the umpires to know that it was becoming a dangerous situation,” Hinch said Thursday before game 4. “Our guys have reported both in the bullpen and in the outfield, you could see the stuff thrown on the field. There’s no place for that. Both teams will agree. And it’s really hard to stop fans from doing that. But it’s also very dangerous. MLB is aware. We’re aware.”
Reddick homered off Luis Severino in the second inning for a 2-0 lead. Fans directed insults at him when he went to right.
“You throw a baseball hard enough and hit somebody in the head when they’re not looking, it could do some damage to the player, so it’s definitely disrespectful and at the same time very unsafe,” Reddick said after the game.
He also said he was subject to verbal abuse.
“It’s a matter of all kinds of different things here, but you’re used to that for nine innings. Pretty standard,” Reddick said. “They’re all yelling at the same time, so it all kind of mumbles together.”
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