For the first time, next week’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Atlanta will include the use of the automated ball-strike (ABS) system.
The ABS challenge system, which allows players to request a video review of a limited number of balls and strikes, reportedly could be a part of the regular season as early as 2026 after being introduced in more than half of this year’s spring training games.
The system grants each team two challenges of called balls or strikes in real time. Reviews triggered by a batter, catcher or pitcher must be made immediately after the home plate umpire calls or signals ball or strike. Managers and other players on the field cannot call for a review.
Once prompted, the review, or a digitalized replay common on broadcasts, is shown to the umpire and replicated on stadium video boards using Hawk-Eye Technology. Viewers of broadcast feeds will also see the same replay, according to MLB, which said its research revealed that a strike zone challenge typically added 17 seconds to a game.
ABS uses precise measurements — home plate 17 inches wide, top of the strike zone 53 percent of a batter’s height, bottom of the zone is 23 percent of a batter’s height — to overlay a laser-like digitized strike zone in a not-for-broadcast tracker of every pitch. When a challenge is granted, the replay of the tracker is shown instantly.
Biomechanical analysis of team height measurements were confirmed by the Southwest Research Institute to provide exact player dimensions with a goal of a precisely uniform strike zone for every batter. The depth of the zone, often the source of questioning of balls and strikes on offspeed and breaking pitches, is flat and uniform for every batter: 8.5 inches from the front and back of the plate.
If the challenging team is ruled correct, they retain the challenge, much like the existing replay system.
The 95th edition of the MLB All-Star Game takes place in Atlanta’s Truist Park on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET, FOX), with Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees managing the American League roster and Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers heading up the National League’s representatives.
–Field Level Media
