NEW YORK — Major League Baseball is restricting iPad usage in dugouts to prevent the tablet computers from running artificial intelligence to help make strategy decisions, and former relief pitcher Adam Ottavino said the New York Mets’ use of technology helped prompt the move.
The tablets have access to video and league-provided data, and they also included a custom tab where teams could access other programs. League officials made the custom tabs inaccessible to teams starting Wednesday night, a day before the Mets played the host Philadelphia Phillies in the first game in the majors’ return to regular-season action after this week’s break for the MLB All-Star Game.
“In 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,” Morgan Sword, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations, wrote in a June 11 memo to teams’ general managers, assistant GMs and video coordinators.
The memo, first reported by The Athletic, was obtained by The Associated Press.
“I read the article, and I was like, I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Teams are making decisions off of AI? Man, that’s just crazy,” said New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge, a three-time American League MVP.
Ottavino said on his YouTube livestream “Baseball & Coffee” 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.
“The Mets were actually the team, the main team, that got cracked down on,” said Ottavino, who played for five franchises in all during his MLB career from 2010-25. “They had an AI program that was very expensive apparently, and they were bragging about it a little bit early on in this — 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.”
“But 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. “They tried to throw some money at the situation. Steve ponied up for — I think this program from what I heard was several hundred thousand dollars to have.”
The Mets did not comment when asked whether they had a response.
A review by the competition committee found clubs had been compliant with the regulations.
“Instituting 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.
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider called it “a 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.”
“I think the biggest thing is calling pitches and kind of seeing how that can evolve in real time via technology,” he said.
MLB started a pilot program allowing use of iPads in dugouts with restrictions late in the 2015 season and expanded their use in 2016 under a deal with Apple. Video was eliminated in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season after the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, then returned in 2021.
“It hasn’t impacted us at all, but I know AI is entering our arena for sure,” Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s entering everyone’s arena. You better get on it, or you’re going to get rolled over by it.”