Little League Expands Use Of Instant Replay

While instant replay in the major-leagues is being introduced at a glacial pace, that's not the case for all baseball. The LA Times reports that the Little League World Series, which starts later this month in Williamsport, will be using it to cover "virtually everything except ball and strike calls".The potential examples given include forceouts, tag plays on the basepaths, hit batters, even to determine if a runner missed a base.

Little League president Stephen Keener said, "This is just another tool to help [umpires] do their job better. This retains not only the human element, but the volunteer element." It's not an entirely new innovation - they have been using it for the past two years, though only on "dead ball" plays, such as home-runs. So far, the umpires have got the calls right in each of the four challenges.

It's interesting to note how Little League are handling the process. In addition to the umpires calling for a replay, managers can challenge as many calls as they want - at least, providing they get them right. They are allocated one unsuccessful challenge during the first six innings, and another unsuccessful challenge, if the game then goes into extra innings.

Of course, it helps to have ESPN providing blanket coverage of the tournament, with the number of cameras focused on each game approaching twice that used for a regular-season game in the majors. A replay crew, consisting of an off-field umpire and an official from Little League, reviews any of those camera angles, and makes a decision on whether to reverse the call. Only time will tell whether this turns out to be a glimpse of the major-league future.