Adam Ottavino has never been shy about talking, and his latest target is the Mets’ use of A.I. earlier this year.
The former New York reliever, who spent three seasons with the club, says the team wasn’t just using the technology - it was bragging about it. That detail is what turns a fairly ordinary modern baseball story into something a little messier. According to reporting in The Athletic, several teams have been using A.I. in some form, but Ottavino’s complaint centers on the Mets acting like they had found some secret weapon.
That kind of edge-seeking has always been part of sports. Baseball has lived through plenty of versions of it, from the obvious to the barely disguised.
The line between innovation and overreach has never been clean, and A.I. fits right into that gray area. It’s not the same as a binoculars-in-the-stands operation or a buzzer under a jersey, and the source material makes clear that using A.I. for pitch selection doesn’t automatically sound like a rules violation.
The bigger issue here is the way it was handled.
If the Mets were talking too loudly about it, that’s where the criticism lands. No punishments for the Mets or anyone else are known to have been handed out, and MLB moved quickly enough to shut the conversation down before it turned into something bigger. The source also notes that other clubs were using similar apps on team iPads, with at least a third doing so to some degree.
That matters because the Mets were hardly alone. The article points out that this wasn’t some one-team scandal, and it draws a comparison to the 2017 Houston Astros, who also weren’t the only club pushing the boundaries. Still, being one of several teams doesn’t make the optics any cleaner.
There’s also the simple reality of where the Mets stand right now. With only the Colorado Rockies owning a worse record than they have this year, there isn’t much for them to boast about. So if they were indeed trumpeting their A.I. usage, it was a strange thing to celebrate.
The source frames the whole thing as part of baseball’s ongoing march toward data-driven decision-making. A.I. has become the answer for just about everything, and the sport has steadily leaned deeper into analytics. Old-school fans may not love every part of that evolution, but the direction is obvious.
In the end, the criticism here isn’t really about the technology itself. It’s about restraint.
Using A.I. may be one thing. Talking too much about it is another.
As the source puts it, the Mets may have stumbled onto something smart - then made the mistake of saying it out loud.
In Other News...
Billy Carlsons Return Just Reopened A Bigger White Sox Debate
Billy Carlsons first pro season has already given the White Sox a little more to think about than they probably expected when they took him in the 2025 first round. After a rough opening month, the young infielder started to settle in offensively in May, showing better on-base skills before a thumb injury interrupted his momentum and sent him to the injured list. Since getting back on the field after the All-Star break, he has looked more comfortable, including a strong three-game series that reminded the organization why his bat was such an intriguing part of his profile.
The bigger question is what all of that means for a club still sorting out its long-term roster picture. Chicago has plenty of middle-infield talent in the system, and that depth is part of why Carlson keeps coming up in conversations about how the White Sox might address other needs. With pitching always at a premium and the front office trying to balance upside against fit, Carlsons return has only sharpened the debate over whether his future is best served in Chicago or as part of a larger move. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Suddenly Face Another Catching Setback With Kyle Teel
The White Sox are trying to keep their catching situation steady again after Kyle Teel was sidelined, a reminder of how quickly one position can shift for a club still sorting out its roster. Edgar Quero was brought back up to give the staff another option, and Drew Romo is getting the start Tuesday night against the Rangers as the team looks for a workable rotation behind the plate.
For now, the plan appears to be a shared workload between Romo and Quero, with playing time likely to follow performance as much as anything else. Chicago can at least lean on a pitching staff that has held its own and an offense that has shown some life, but another interruption at catcher adds a little more uncertainty to a team that could have used a cleaner stretch. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Hit Another Low Point In Blowout That Got Bizarre
Noah Schultzs night in Texas quickly turned into one of those games the White Sox would like to erase from the record book. The young right-hander was tagged for 11 hits and 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings, and Chicago never recovered in a 10-0 loss that left the Sox out-hit 18-3 and shut out for the eighth time this season.
The damage kept spreading after Schultz exited, with Trevor Richards and Tyler Schweitzer unable to stop the bleeding as the Rangers kept stacking traffic and extra bases. By the time the game reached the late innings, the White Sox were already deep into damage control, and the bizarre part was not just how lopsided it became, but how many different ways it unraveled. [Read more 🡒]