Former Mets Pitcher Reveals Expensive AI Program for Pitch Calling
Major League Baseball began restricting iPad use in dugouts this week, specifically limiting a "custom" tab that teams had previously accessed. A former Mets pitcher disclosed that his team had employed a costly AI program to call pitches. The source does not specify the program's name, its cost, or its performance outcomes.
This demonstrates the classic pattern of shadow IT in competitive environments. Teams adopt unapproved tools, gain temporary advantage, then face normalization when authorities discover and restrict the practice. Your takeaway: any workflow advantage built on ungoverned technology carries existential risk of sudden elimination. Build accordingly.
A former Mets pitcher made the disclosure, though the source does not name him. Major League Baseball is the restricting authority. The specific AI vendor and its pricing remain unspecified.
Step 1: Identify one repetitive decision in your daily routine where you currently guess or use simple rules. Step 2: Use a free consumer tool such as Google Sheets with basic conditional formatting or a simple if-this-then-that automation to create a rudimentary decision aid for that scenario. Step 3: Use it for three decisions, then note exactly when you disagreed with its output and why. Expected outcome: firsthand understanding of where algorithmic assistance enhances versus frustrates human judgment.