Clearly-defined rules are often assumed to be straightforward to automate and evaluate. We challenge this assumption through an in-depth study of Major League Baseball's (MLB) seven-year experimentation with the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS). ABS is envisioned to call balls and strikes accurately: a seemingly straightforward use of technology to objectively determine the distance between a pitch and the strike zone. Although the strike zone is an area clearly defined in the rulebook, it took MLB seven years to figure out how to automate calling balls and strikes with ABS, showing how even seemingly straightforward rules require a complex translation process to operationalize via technological systems. In this paper, we trace the design decisions that led to the current implementation of ABS. Our case study reveals that "distance" exists even between a clear rule and its technological implementation. Using analytic frameworks from Science and Technology Studies (STS), we show that such distance exists because (1) historically, the "ground truth" of the strike zone is contested: the rule in practice has always reflected a hybrid between the rulebook definition and umpires' enforcement decisions; and (2) the use of ABS is embedded in an existing eco-system, where the implementation of a technological enforcement system needs to balance multiple stakeholder values. This perspective challenges conventional evaluation paradigms that center on the distance between a formalized rule and its technological implementation, and instead calls for evaluating how such systems are experienced in practice. Addressing this question requires in-depth social science approaches, contributing to ongoing conversations in FAccT about the implementation and evaluation of sociotechnical systems.

翻译：通常认为，定义明确的规则易于自动化和评估。我们通过对美国职业棒球大联盟（MLB）长达七年的自动化好球-坏球系统（ABS）实验进行深入研究，对这一假设提出挑战。ABS旨在准确判定好球和坏球：这看似是技术直接用于客观判断投球与好球区之间距离的简单应用。尽管好球区在规则书中被明确定义，MLB仍花费了七年时间才摸索出如何通过ABS实现好球-坏球判定的自动化，这表明即使是看似简单的规则，也需要经过复杂的转换过程才能通过技术系统付诸实践。本文追溯了导致ABS当前实现版本的设计决策。我们的案例研究表明，即便是明确的规则与其技术实现之间也存在着“距离”。利用科技与社会研究（STS）的分析框架，我们指出这种距离存在的原因在于：（1）从历史角度看，好球区的“基本事实”存在争议：实际执行中的规则始终是规则书定义与裁判执法决策之间的混合体；（2）ABS的使用嵌入于现有生态系统之中，技术执行系统的实施需要平衡多方利益相关者的价值诉求。这一视角挑战了以形式化规则与其技术实现之间距离为中心的传统评估范式，转而呼吁评估此类系统在实践中的实际体验。解决这一问题需要深入的社会科学方法，为FAccT中关于社会技术系统实施与评估的持续讨论做出贡献。