Almost a decade ago, the MLB introduced dugout iPads to help managers and coaches track customized scouting data through built-in apps. On Wednesday, the MLB announced a ban on accessing generative AI on those iPads to help influence in-game decisions traditionally made by players and coaches. Former player Adam Ottavino put the New York Mets at the center of MLB’s AI crackdown saga with his recent claims. However, the Mets’ interim manager, Andy Green, has assured that the franchise is compliant with the rules MLB imposed.

“I don’t think it does us any good to talk about what everyone says publicly. From my perspective, what I just said remains true: We remain compliant with everything MLB’s asked us to do,” emphasized Green, per Sleeper Mets.

Morgan Sword, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations, issued a memo to GMs, assistant GMs and video coordinators on June 11 about the league’s AI crackdown. It gave the teams one month to adjust and adapt to the changes before the ban took effect on Wednesday.

“In many cases, the custom tab had expanded the use of the dugout iPads beyond their originally intended purpose to include recommendations regarding substitutions, pitch calling, and other in-game decisions traditionally made by players and coaches,” the memo read.

It all started with the MLB relaxing its restrictions on the dugout iPads and introducing a custom tab option. Originally supposed to store scouting data, the teams reportedly installed apps using generative AI on the iPads. Some coaches and managers reportedly fed live in-game information to those apps and used those models for calling pitches. Apparently, the Miami Marlins pioneered the practice of calling pitches from the dugout. However, how many teams other than the Marlins were involved in the same practices remains unknown.

The extent of Mets’ involvement, aside from Ottavino’s allegations, is also unknown. Before the Mets played against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, Green assured that they were operating under the MLB’s guidelines.

With the second half of the season in progress, the Mets suffered a 6-1 blowout loss to the Phillies as the custom tab became inaccessible league-wide.

Adam Ottavino’s allegations

Adam Ottavino spent the last four seasons of his big-league career with the New York. As MLB announced its AI crackdown, Ottavino claimed that the Mets were at the centre of the AI controversy.

“The Mets were actually the team, the main team, that got cracked down on,” Ottavino claimed on his Baseball and Coffee YouTube live stream. “They had an AI program that was very expensive, apparently, and they were bragging about it a little bit early on in this year. 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, and I think some other stuff.”

Ottavino further claimed that once MLB got a hint of what the Mets are doing, the league was quick to bring such practices to a stop. The Mets’ principal owner, Steve Cohen, also “tried to throw some money at the situation,” claimed Ottavino.

As reports indicate, the Mets found a loophole in the guidelines for using the dugout iPads and exploited it like other MLB teams.