Manfred not in favor of removing umpires for electronic strike zone

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has no plans to replace umpires with an electronic system, despite increased scrutiny of umpire's strike zones in recent weeks.

"It would be a pretty fundamental change in the game to take away a function that has been performed by our umpiring staff, really with phenomenal accuracy," Manfred said Thursday, according to Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. "The fact of the matter is they get them right well over 90 percent of the time.

"And there is a human aspect to that, a work aspect to it that's always been an important part of our game. I don't think you can just jump to the conclusion that if you have (the) technology to do it that's the right thing for your product."

Chicago Cubs utility man Ben Zobrist advocated for an electronic strike zone last week after he was called out on a pitch to end the game that he deemed was too low.

"If we want to change something like that, we're going to have an electronic strike zone because human beings are going to make mistakes," Zobrist said. "Tough situation for that to happen, but he's probably going to look at it and not be too happy with himself.

"That's something the league is going to have to look at, when you start ending games and games turn on one pitch like that. It's an unfortunate situation, and now that we have the technology, we should probably get it right."