The Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System will produce plenty of hilarious moments in its Major League Baseball debut season this year, and we got one during a spring training game on Saturday in Scottsdale, AZ.
With an 0-2 count and two outs in the fourth inning of a Cactus League game between the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Guardians, Giants catcher Patrick Bailey challenged the call of a pitch from left-hander Robbie Ray after MLB home plate umpire Bill Miller ruled the pitch a ball.
“San Francisco is challenging the ‘ball’ call,” Miller announced to those in attendance at Scottsdale Stadium.
Miller didn’t realize his mic was still on when he continued.
“Please be a strike,” Miller said, as heard by everyone watching the game, including viewers on NBC Sports Bay Area.
Miller then made an awkward face that suggested he realized his comment was caught on the mic.
It would seem odd that Miller would want his call to be wrong. Perhaps he was jokingly making that comment to Bailey. Or more likely, it could have just been that Miller wanted the inning to be over during an exhibition game in 100-degree heat.
Unfortunately for both Miller and the Giants, the ABS showed that his call was correct, with the pitch remaining a ball.
It’s not the first time Miller has had an embarrassing hot-mic moment during a review. The veteran umpire dropped a few expletives that were overheard on a hot mic at Fenway Park during a game between the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox last season after a replay review overturned his call.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.