NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Major League Baseball is restricting iPad usage in dugouts to prevent the tablets from running artificial intelligence to help make strategy decisions, and former reliever Adam Ottavino said the New York Mets’ use of technology helped prompt the move.<\/p>\n
The tablets have access to video and league-provided data, and also included a custom tab where teams could access other programs. MLB made the custom tabs inaccessible to teams starting Wednesday night, when the second half of the season started.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn many cases, the custom tab had expanded the use of the dugout iPads beyond their originally intended purpose to include recommendations regarding substitutions, pitch calling, and other in-game decisions traditionally made by players and coaches,” MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword wrote in a June 11 memo to general managers, assistant GMs and video coordinators.<\/p>\n
The memo, first reported by The Athletic, was obtained by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
\u201cI read the article and I was like, I can\u2019t believe what I\u2019m seeing. Teams are making decisions off of AI? Man, that\u2019s just crazy,\u201d Yankees captain Aaron Judge said.<\/p>\n
Ottavino said on his YouTube livestream \u201cBaseball & Coffee\u201d<\/a> that the Mets had been using AI and cited spending by team owner Steve Cohen on the software. Ottavino pitched for the Mets from 2022-24 and is now a broadcaster on the New York Yankees’ YES Network.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mets were actually the team, the main team, that got cracked down on,\u201d Ottavino said. \u201cThey had an AI program that was very expensive apparently and they were bragging about it a little bit early on in this \u2014 the year. Some of the coaches that I know were talking about it from around the league and they had basically an AI program helping them pick pitches and I think some other stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut MLB got wind of it and nipped that right in the bud, so apparently they weren’t the only team, but I knew about it from the Mets angle,” he said. \u201cThey tried to throw some money at the situation. Steve ponied up for \u2014 I think this program from what I heard was several hundred thousand dollars to have.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mets did not comment when asked whether they had a response.<\/p>\n A review by the competition committee found clubs had been compliant with the regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cInstituting this prohibition beginning with the second half of the season is intended to provide clubs that have relied on the custom tab with appropriate lead-time to make any necessary adjustments,” Sword wrote.<\/p>\n Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider called it \u201ca little weird to kind of see the whole report on it, where you can do things kind of in real time that can sway your decision one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think the biggest thing is calling pitches and kind of seeing how that can evolve in real time via technology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n MLB started a pilot program allowing use of iPads in dugouts with restrictions late in the 2015 season<\/a> and expanded their use in 2016<\/a> under a deal with Apple. Video was eliminated in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season following the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, then returned in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt hasn\u2019t impacted us at all but I know AI is entering our arena for sure,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “It\u2019s entering everyone\u2019s arena. You better get on it, or you\u2019re going to get rolled over by it.\u201d<\/p>\n AP Baseball Writer David Brandt and AP freelance writer Ian Harrison contributed to this report.<\/p>\n