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：明确定义的规则常被视为易于自动化和评估。我们通过对美国职业棒球大联盟（MLB）长达七年的自动判球系统（ABS）实验的深入研究，挑战了这一假设。ABS旨在精确判定好球与坏球：这看似是单纯利用技术客观判断投球与好球区距离的任务。尽管规则书中明确界定了好球区范围，MLB却耗费七年时间才找到通过ABS自动判球的方法，这揭示了即便看似简单的规则也需要经历复杂的转化过程才能借助技术系统实现可操作化。本文追溯了导致当前ABS实施的设计决策历程。我们的案例研究表明，"距离"甚至存在于清晰规则与其技术实现之间。借助科学技术研究（STS）的分析框架，我们论证了这种距离存在的原因在于：（1）历史上好球区的"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的混合体；（2）ABS的使用嵌入现有生态系统，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技术实现之间距离为核心的传统评估范式，转而呼吁评估此类系统在实践中的实际体验。解答这一问题需要深入的社会科学方法，为FAccT领域关于社会技术系统实施与评估的持续讨论做出贡献。