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El Paso Chihuahuas adjusting to automatic balls and strikes, among other rule changes

One thing to understand about the new automatic balls and strikes system used in Triple-A baseball — the robo ump — is that it adds jobs to the game-day operation, not subtracts them.

El Paso Chihuahuas announcer Tim Hagerty said he's heard the "it takes away a job from a human umpire" comment, but there's still a home-plate umpire in games with the automated system. There is also the addition of a technician in the first-base well monitoring the cameras around the park and an operator in the press box whose primary job is making sure the right batter is loaded into the computer system.