New York Mets Deny AI Rule Violation After Former Player's Claim

New York Mets interim manager Andy Green said the club is fully compliant with Major League Baseball when asked about a report that singled out his organization for using artificial intelligence for in-game strategy decisions.

“Whatever the rules are, we remain fully compliant and Major League Baseball makes those determinations,” Green said before Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Former Mets reliever Adam Ottavino said on his YouTube livestream “Baseball + Coffee” that the Mets had been using AI and cited spending by team owner Steve Cohen on the software. Ottavino pitched for the Mets from 2022-24 and is now a broadcaster on the New York Yankees’ Yes Network.

“The Mets were actually the team, the main team, that got cracked down on,” Ottavino said. “They had an AI program that was very expensive apparently and they were bragging about it a little bit early on in this – the 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.”

Asked specifically about Ottavino’s assertion, Green said: “I don’t think it does us any good to talk about what everybody says publicly. From my perspective, what I just said remains true: We remain compliant with everything MLB’s asked us to do. And we’ll continue to do that.”

Major League Baseball is restricting iPad usage in dugouts. The tablets have access to video and league-provided data, and also included a custom tab where teams could access other programs. MLB made the custom tabs inaccessible to teams starting Wednesday night, when the second half of the season started.

Green deferred to MLB and said he did not have a strong opinion on the issue.