Dodgers, Angels a part of MLB’s umpire announcement trial run for replay reviews

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers and Angels made history in Monday’s Freeway Series exhibition at Dodger Stadium, with the first in-park announcement of a replay review.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Chris Taylor was hit on the left hand/wrist area by a pitch from Mike Mayers. Angels manger Joe Maddon challenged that the pitch hit the bat and not Taylor’s hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t take offense at the Angels’ challenge, because of a directive from the league.

“I don’t think it was something Joe did to kind of discredit CT as far as challenging it,” Roberts said Monday. “We were encouraged by Major League Baseball to practice it.”

It’s been a long time coming for the system, in which the crew chief has a microphone and will announce replay challenges over the PA system, similar to football referees in the NFL and college. It helps explain the hold up to the crowd, which were often in the dark as to why games were delayed in the past.

Major League Baseball announced Friday that training of the new system was held in Arizona and Florida this spring.

In theory, the system should cut down on the delay as well.

“It’s different, but I think by the middle of the season it will be commonplace for us,” Roberts said. “The time I think was a little bit quicker, and anything we can keep the pace is a good thing for everyone.”

Links

• The Dodgers trade for Craig Kimbrel, with AJ Pollock sent to the White Sox, was analyzed by Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs.
• Miguel Vargas, who will start his 2022 season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, was among a group of prospects across baseball wowed by scouts during spring training. From Kyle Glaser at Baseball America, a part of a scout’s thoughts on the prospect: “He’s been really, really good this spring. He’s going to force his way up at some point. Defensive questions for sure. Probably going to end up at first base, but the bat is going to be more than enough to carry him.”
• CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson joined host Craig Goldstein on the Baseball Prospectus Five and Dive podcast to preview the NL West.
• The Dodgers were rated quite highly in MLB.com’s initial power rankings.
• Writers at Baseball America predicted the 2022 season. Again, the Dodgers feature prominently.