The New York Mets rejected suggestions that the organization has improperly leaned on artificial intelligence for in-game decisions, with interim manager Andy Green insisting the club operates within all Major League Baseball guidelines.
Green's comments came after former Mets reliever Adam Ottavino claimed on his YouTube show that the organization had deployed an expensive AI system to help coaches select pitches during games. Ottavino, who played for the Mets from 2022 to 2024 and now broadcasts for the New York Yankees, said the team had been flagged by the league for the technology.
"The Mets were actually the team, the main team, that got cracked down on," Ottavino said during his "Baseball + Coffee" livestream. "They had an AI program that was very expensive apparently and they were bragging about it a little bit early on. 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."
When pressed about the allegation before Saturday's game against Philadelphia, Green sidestepped the specifics. "From my perspective, what I just said remains true: We remain compliant with everything MLB's asked us to do," he said. "I don't think it does us any good to talk about what everybody says publicly."
The Mets manager offered little elaboration, deferring instead to league officials on the broader question of AI usage in baseball. Green said he held no strong opinion on the matter of dugout technology restrictions.
MLB has moved to curtail tablet usage in dugouts, making custom application tabs inaccessible to teams starting Wednesday night as the season's second half began. The tablets retain access to video feeds and league-provided data but can no longer connect to external programs that teams might have installed.
The timing of the restrictions and Ottavino's public allegations suggest MLB had grown concerned about how some franchises were using available technology to gain competitive advantage. The league has not publicly named the Mets or detailed what, if any, violations took place.
Author James Rodriguez: "Green's blanket compliance defense without addressing the specifics rings hollow, especially when Ottavino has a credible inside track on how the Mets operated."
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