Major League Baseball Debuts Instant Replay Ops Center

With instant replay set to debut in earnest at Dodger Stadium and AT&T Park as the traditional end-of-Spring Training Californian regional skirmish series begins Thursday evening with Angels-Dodgers and Athletics-Giants, Major League Baseball unveiled its New York Replay Operations Center in New York, the touted command center for umpire review.

The Replay Operations Center or "ROC" is baseball's technology headquarters, put together by MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) in their Chelsea Market building. This is the room in which umpire crews will serve as replay officials and Director of Instant Replay Justin Klemm will spend his summer.

Klemm, with Joe Torre on conference call, explained the process: Upon observing a close play, a replay umpire will begin to review multiple angles at differing speeds. If the play is challenged or a review is requested by the crew chief, Klemm hopes the replay official will already have the decision well in hand by the time the on-field umpires don their headsets.

The decision will either affirm or reverse the call on the field and is broken out into three possibilities:
Confirmed, in which the on-field ruling is ruled as correct through clear visual evidence.
Stands, in which no evidence clearly demonstrates the call was incorrect nor does it confirm the call.
Overturned, in which clear and convincing evidence indicates the call on the field was in error.

When a decision is rendered, the MLBAM technician assigned to the game will forward the video replay most decisive (e.g., that which shows the pivotal moment - safe/out, pulled foot, etc.) to the requesting stadium so that ballpark personnel can then show that specific angle on the stadium video screens. Television broadcasts will also have access to the decisive replay for the at-home audience.

Taking a page from the NHL.com's Situation Room Blog used by hockey's replay centre in Toronto, MLB also plans to post written explanations of all its instant replay decisions on MLB.com.

News: Major League Baseball unveils state-of-the-art replay center (MLB.com)