KBO, three referees excluded from duty due to controversy over misjudgment concealment Director Kim Tae-hyung criticized “I can’t trust the ABS judgment”

When NC Lee Jae-hak’s pitch, which was judged to be a ball, said ‘strike’ on the KBO tablet, the 4 umpires gathered and said, “Please say you recognized it as a ball.” Kim said, “Controversy is growing because of robot umpires.”

Umpires who received a protest against NC coach Kang In-kwon’s ball decision during the NC-Samsung professional baseball game held in Daegu on the 14th are gathered on the ground and talking. They are suspected of making a different decision than the Automatic Ball and Strike System (ABS) and trying to conceal this fact.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) decided to exclude three umpires, including Lee Min-ho, Moon Seung-hoon, and Choo Pyeong-ho, from their duties and refer them to the personnel committee, who sparked controversy over the ‘concealment of misjudgments’ by the automatic ball and strike judging system (ABS). On the 15th, the KBO held an emergency meeting chaired by President Heo Heo-yeon and made this decision. This measure follows the controversy that first arose after the introduction of ABS in the Daegu game between NC and Samsung on the 14th.

The scene in question occurred in the bottom of the third inning when NC was ahead 1–0. The moment NC Lee Jae-hak threw the second pitch to Samsung Lee Jae-hyun, first base runner Ji-chan Kim tried to steal second base and was out. The pitch itself was ruled a ball. Afterwards, when Lee Jae-hak threw three more balls, NC coach Kang In-kwon appealed to referee Moon, saying, “The second pitch was a strike on the KBO tablet PC that received the ABS decision result.”

The referee decided not to accept the appeal after reaching an agreement in the fourth trial. The reason was, “The next pitch has already been made, so the statute of limitations for appeal has passed.” However, due to a technical problem, the results were displayed late on the tablet PC, and NC had no choice but to protest belatedly. Jae-Hak Lee walked Jae-Hyun Lee and allowed a 1–3 comeback, and NC ended up losing 5–12.

However, a controversial scene was caught on the TV broadcast. During the 4th trial agreement, first base umpire Lee Min-ho, head of the umpire team, said to umpire Moon, “Say it was recognized as a ball.” Did you know? A scene was broadcast saying, “That’s the only way for us to get out.” Third base umpire Chu, who received the ABS decision at the same time as the umpire, did not take any action.

The KBO said, “We decided to strengthen the manual so that ABS field personnel can actively intervene in case of confusion in receiving ABS decisions,” and added, “We will make sure that decisions are received at the same time as the referee and third base umpire in both teams’ dugouts.” “We decided to deploy voice receiver equipment as quickly as possible,” he said.

Lotte coach Kim Tae-hyung (pictured) also criticized the ABS system itself. Coach Kim said ahead of the Gocheok game against Kiwoom on the 14th, “There are a lot of complaints on the field about ABS. “Honestly, I can’t believe it,” he said. “I think the controversy is actually growing because of the robot referee that was introduced to eliminate (loud) speech.” 토토