If there's one thing baseball fans are averse to, it's change. Over the MLB's 149-year history, alterations to the game's rules, like lowering the pitcher's mound (1968) or introducing instant replay challenges (2014) came only after years of heated debate between reformers and purists. Maybe the most contentious issue ever to divide these two camps is whether or not to replace notoriously inaccurate human home plate umpires with less fallible machines. Though that was once largely considered out of the bounds of possibility, MLB games officiated by so-called "robot umpires" are now closer to reality than ever before. Starting this week, batters stepping up to the plate during spring training games will have the ability to challenge an umpire's pitch calls and have them immediately reviewed by a computer.

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LAS VEGAS – Most baseball fans won't forget the controversial call in Game 6 of the 2019 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals when runner Trea Turner was ruled out because of interference. Umpire accuracy is a frustration for fans and players in nearly every game. This season, MLB has launched so-called "robot umpires" in 11 Pacific Coast League Triple-A teams, putting it one step away from reaching the major leagues, to improve accuracy and reduce delays. The automated balls and strikes system (ABS) debuted in a Las Vegas Aviators' game earlier this month. As cool and bizarre as it would be to see "Jetsons"-style robots on the field, most fans won't notice the actual device -- eight surveillance-looking cameras at the top of the bleachers.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Ozzie Guillen made clear Sunday he was no fan of robot umpires or automated strike zones coming to Major League Baseball. Robot umpiring was first tested in the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and in the Low-A minor leagues. Triple-A minor league baseball is trying out automated strike zones for the 2022 season.

Robot umpires have been given a promotion and will be just one step from the major leagues this season. Major League Baseball is expanding its automated strike zone experiment to Triple-A, the highest level of the minor leagues. MLB's website posted a hiring notice seeking seasonal employees to operate the Automated Ball and Strike system. MLB said it is recruiting employees to operate the system for the Albuquerque Isotopes, Charlotte Knights, El Paso Chihuahuas, Las Vegas Aviators, Oklahoma City Dodgers, Reno Aces, Round Rock Express, Sacramento River Cats, Salt Lake Bees, Sugar Land Skeeters and Tacoma Rainiers. The independent Atlantic League became the first American professional league to let a computer call balls and strikes at its All-Star Game in July 2019 and experimented with ABS during the second half of that season. It also was used in the Arizona Fall League for top prospects in 2019, drawing complaints of its calls on breaking balls.

I have nothing against progress. Some of my best friends are traveling shoe salesmen, and I can't tell you how many times my stone hand ax has come in handy around the cave. But I can't shake the feeling we've gone a tad too far with technology. The latest assault on our humanity came Thursday, when news broke that Major League Baseball would use an automated strike zone at Triple-A this season. It means robot umpires will be one heartbeat from the big leagues -- a ''heartbeat'' being that thing once used to deduce whether a ''person'' was alive.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Robotic umpires that use an automated system for determining ball and strike calls will now be used in Triple-A baseball for the 2022 season, MLB officials announced. This puts the Automated Ball and Strike (ABS) system, which has seen success after experimental adoption by some ballparks in the minor leagues, just one level below the major leagues. MLB'S SNAIL-PACED LOCKOUT TALKS TO RESUME WITH UNION OFFER MLB is currently seeking personnel to operate the system at ballparks for the Albuquerque Isotopes, Charlotte Knights, El Paso Chihuahuas, Las Vegas Aviators, Oklahoma City Dodgers, Reno Aces, Round Rock Express, Sacramento River Cats, Salt Lake Bees, Sugar Land Skeeters and Tacoma Rainiers, FOX 13 of Seattle reported.

Grown men wearing tights like to yell terrible things at Fred DeJesus. DeJesus is an umpire in the outer constellations of professional baseball, where he's been spat on and, once, challenged to a postgame fight in a parking lot. He was born in Bushwick, Brooklyn, to Puerto Rican parents, stands five feet three, and is shaped, in his chest protector, like a fire hydrant; he once ejected a player for saying that he suffered from "little-man syndrome." Two years ago, DeJesus became the first umpire in a regular-season game anywhere to use something called the Automated Ball-Strike System. Most players refer to it as the "robo-umpire."

Baseball's future has arrived in the Atlantic League with the introduction an automated strike zone. If the experiment goes well, the days of players imploring umps to schedule an eye exam could soon come to an end.