The 2025 MLB All-Star Game is Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app. One of the unique parts of this year’s Midsummer Classic is that the automated ball-strike (ABS) system will be in place for players to challenge balls and strikes, with the ABS diagram shown on the main screen in the ballpark and factually determining if a pitch was a strike.
Consider FOX MLB Studio Analyst Alex Rodriguez a fan of ABS, as well as that of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s recent track record.
“I’m a big Rob Manfred fan. I think he deserves a lot of credit. Single-handedly, with the changes he’s made in the last two or three years to really save our game, he probably belongs in Cooperstown,” Rodriguez said on Tuesday’s edition of “The Herd.” “Technology has made the game better. Any time you make players and umpires more accountable, it’s a great thing. Going back 10 years, 83% of the time, the umpires were getting it right. Today, that number has ballooned to 97%, so it’s a much better quality, much better game, much better accuracy. All those things are good. Now, the application of it, we have to go see how it works. I know they’ve been doing it in the minor leagues.
“I am really looking forward to tonight [All-Star Game] to see how that plays out because I’m a little bit on the fence, but I’m more pro because I think Rob Manfred deserves some credit. He’s built some equity here over the last three or four years with his changes.”
The ABS system has been used in the minor leagues and in spring training, but Tuesday night will mark its first use in an MLB game. Granted, the game is an exhibition. Each team gets two challenges apiece, with the pitcher, catcher and hitter being the only ones that are eligible to challenge a ball-strike call.
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In recent memory, MLB has gone forth with substantial rule changes, including installing a pitch clock and outlawing shifts that feature fewer than two infielders on either side of second base.
As for the Manfred Cooperstown claim by Rodriguez, five commissioners are in the Baseball Hall of Fame: Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1921-44), A.B. “Happy” Chandler (1945-51), Ford Christopher Frick (1951-65), Bowie Kent Kuhn (1969-84) and Selig (1998-2015).
Manfred succeeded Bud Selig as the 10th commissioner in MLB history in 2015 after previously serving as MLB’s Chief Operating Officer (COO). The current commissioner’s contract expires after 2028, with Manfred saying in 2024 that he’ll step down when his deal ends.
As for other MLB matters, New York Mets star outfielder Juan Soto — who’s in the first season of a 15-year, $765 million deal — didn’t make the National League All-Star Game roster, primarily due to a slow start at the plate by the five-time Silver Slugger’s standards, boasting a .241/.368/.384 slash line through April.
Rodriguez feels that Soto should be in Atlanta for the MLB All-Star Game.
“If this is a game of stars and entertainment, and you have partners like FOX, Juan Soto needs to be in Atlanta because there’s no one I’d rather have on the set [than him],” Rodriguez said. “You can’t tell me there are 60 players or 60 stories more compelling than Juan Soto, who’s had a phenomenal June and was the Player of the Month. Back in the day, I watched Larry Bird and Magic [Johnson]. I couldn’t care less if they had a bad first half. I want to see Bird and Magic in the All-Star Game every year, year in and year out.”
As a whole, Soto has totaled 23 home runs and 56 RBIs this season, while owning a .262/.396/.509 slash line. The Mets are 55-42, a half-game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East.
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