Ryu Hyun-jin complains about ‘ABS distrust’, immediately refuted by KBO secretariat

When Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha Eagles) complained about the Automatic Pitching System (ABS), the KBO secretariat unusually released pitch tracking data.

On the 26th, the KBO Secretariat provided ABS operator Sports2I’s pitch tracking judgment data to the media and shared data on the trajectory of balls thrown by Moon Dong-ju and Ryu Hyun-jin to KT Wiz batters on the 23rd and 24th.

Ryu Hyun-jin showed several expressions of doubt about the ABS ball decision in the game against KT on the 24th (5 innings, 7 hits, 7 runs).

He could not hide his surprised expression after throwing three pitches against KT Cho Yong-ho, who was the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the third inning. His fastball seemed to hit the bottom line of the strike zone, but the ABS ruled it a ball.

Ryu Hyun-jin, who laughed and shook it off as if it was absurd and went on to the next pitch, did not laugh this time. When the 4th pitch, a fastball to the body, was also ruled a ball, his expression hardened. Cho Yong-ho, who was at bat, seemed to think it was a strike, and stopped and got on base only after a walk was ruled.

Regarding the ABS decision the previous day, Ryu Hyun-jin said, “In the 3rd inning, the ball was judged to be low, but in the 5th inning, the ball went in at almost the same height, but it was ruled a strike. What would be a ball becomes a strike, and what would be a strike becomes a ball. “It may be different for each stadium, but the problem is that it changes from game to game (at the same stadium),” he complained.

Accordingly, the KBO Secretariat explained, “This ball passed 0.15cm above the bottom of the ABS middle zone, but failed to pass the bottom of the ABS end zone by 0.78cm, so it was ruled a ball.” The explanation is that in order to be judged a strike, the ball must pass through the strike zone on both the middle and end surfaces of the home plate, but it failed to pass through the bottom of the end zone, making it a ball.

The KBO secretariat also refuted Hanwha’s claim that there was an inconsistency in the judgment of outside pitches thrown to left-handed batters in a three-game series at the same stadium.

According to this, the 4 pitches (strike) that Moon Dong-ju threw to KT Cheon Seong-ho in the bottom of the 4th inning on the 23rd, and the 3 balls (balls) that Ryu Hyun-jin threw to Cheon Seong-ho in the bottom of the 1st inning on the 24th were in different locations on the graphics, and Moon Dong-joo’s 4 pitches were in the strike zone. It was announced that Ryu Hyun-jin’s three pitches were out of the strike zone.

ABS, which the KBO is implementing in the first team this year for the first time in the world, is a system in which a camera installed in a baseball stadium captures the trajectory of a pitcher’s ball, and the computer determines whether it is a strike or a ball and transmits an audio signal to the umpire. Some officials say, “It is much better than the zone that used to be different for each umpire.” Although the KBO maintains that there are no problems with the ABS system, it is true that there are still voices of distrust among coaches and players on the field.

©Dailyan Co., Ltd. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited