Manfred: MLB has discussed robot umpires, tackier baseballs

Rob Manfred has primarily attempted to address Major League Baseball's pace-of-play issues since being appointed commissioner prior to the 2015 season, but that's not all Bud Selig's successor is seeking to accomplish in his tenure.

"I think we are much closer than we were a year ago to having the technological capability to actually call the strike zone," Manfred said in a recent conversation with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, adding that the league has "worked very hard" on the pitch-tracking software PITCHf/x.

"The accuracy is way up - way better than what it was a year ago. The technology continues to move ... and it actually moved a little faster than I might have thought."

On whether robot umpiring crews are around the corner, though, Manfred was less committal.

"There remains a fundamental question the owners are going to have to address. When you take away the home-plate umpire's control over the strike zone, you take away a principal piece of his authority in terms of managing the whole game. ... We haven't had a lot of conversations with (the umpires) on this topic, but I do think there is a serious management-of-the-game issue you'd have to think about with respect to that change."

Manfred also addressed the topic of pine tar, and how the league may combat its usage on the mound by making the baseball itself stickier.

"Over the long haul, I do think the idea of a baseball that is tackier and eliminates any human variation - whether it's the way it's mudded, the use of tar, whatever - would be a positive for the game."

Cleveland Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer implied recently that the Houston Astros' pitching staff employed the use of foreign substances on baseballs to improve their spin rate. Bauer later suggested that MLB should legalize the use of sticky substances based on their widespread use.