Umpire calls a challenge that Brett Baty never requested

Turns out there is still plenty of room for the human element even with Major League Baseball’s Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System. 

Now, it is all in the interpretation.  

Just ask Brett Baty. The New York Mets infielder slightly raised his right hand in the sixth inning on Tuesday night at Citi Field. He never touched his helmet, though it looked like he was going to touch the bill, not tap it.  

It didn’t matter. Homeplate umpire Junior Valentine saw the arm go up and immediately signaled for a challenge. Baty argued, but Valentine didn’t budge. The strike stood, the Mets were out of challenges.  

The reviews on SNY showed very clearly Baty never touched his helmet. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza came out to argue, it still didn’t matter. It was the umpire’s discretion.  

Sound familiar? 

That was the reasoning on Sunday when home plate umpire Carlos Torres denied a challenge from the Orioles and another from the A’s.  

Under MLB rules, only the pitcher, catcher or batter can initiate a challenge. They have two seconds to signal for a challenge. The umpires have discretion to deny requests that do not meet those standards.  

It isn’t Baty’s first issue with ABS. Earlier this season he became the first batter in major-league history to have a bases-loaded walk overturned to an inning-ending called third strike by the challenge system.  

Now he has a burned challenge he never asked for to go with it.  

The ABS system was designed by MLB to eliminate human errors. Seven weeks in and human error is still part of the game.