On Thursday afternoon, Jesse Rogers of ESPN announced that 10 MLB umpires are retiring this week, the largest mass exodus of officials in over 20 years. Rogers’ article says the retirements have nothing to do with any of the scheduled or rumored rule changes coming to MLB, but at least one player is skeptical.
As Rogers mentions in the article and later in the Twitter thread, many of the 10 umpires started around the same time, and they’ve apparently decided to go out together. But as Justin Turner mentions, none of them had really mentioned it to anyone until recently.
MLB is undergoing a lot of rule changes. The shift will be banned beginning in 2023, along with a pitch clock and limits on pickoff throws. Perhaps the biggest deal is the automated strike zone (aka “robot umps,” aka “ABS” or automated ball/strike system). It’s not officially coming to MLB yet, but the writing’s on the wall, and robot umps will be in the big leagues relatively soon.
It’s understandable why umpires who have been doing things (relatively poorly) manually for decades might not be enthralled with the idea of the ABS, although there are probably at least some of them who are excited about the idea not making a dozen wrong calls every night and everyone watching on TV knows about it.
But if an umpire had been thinking “I’ll probably be done in the next five years or so,” the ABS and other rule changes might bump that timeline up a bit. It might even be a subconscious thing, to the point where the umpires might say — and believe — the early retirement was unrelated to the changes.
Honestly, it’s the most reasonable explanation at this point. We might find out more information that clears it up, but for now, it seems like JT’s guess is on the right track.
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