By Matt Loeschman
Mail | X: @MattLoeschman

Major League Baseball has seen its fair share of big rule changes over the past few years.

The pitch clock, pitching limits, bigger bases and defensive shift restrictions have all made their way into the game since 2023.

But 2026 marks the most monumental adjustment of all — the debut of the MLB automated ball-strike challenge system.

Beginning with the 2026 regular season, MLB’s ABS (automated ball-strike) system will use Hawk-Eye cameras to create a virtual strike zone that can determine calls, but implements a player-initiated challenge system (pitcher, catcher, batter only), giving teams two challenges per game to overturn incorrect calls, with successful challenges keeping the challenge and unsuccessful ones costing it.

In a September 2025 statement, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the game is ready for the new technology.

“The previous rule changes that have been adopted by the Joint Competition Committee have had staying power and created momentum for the game,” Manfred stated.

“We used the same process with ABS that started with listening to fans, conducting extensive testing at the Minor League level, and trying at every step to make the game better. Throughout this process we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players. The strong preference from players for the challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing.”

Considered a middle ground between so-called “robot umps” that could call every ball and strike and the long-standing tradition of the natural human error that comes with human umpires, the ABS Challenge System gives teams the opportunity to request a quick review of some of the most important ball-strike calls in a given game.

Arizonans headed out to a spring training game in 2025 might be familiar with the system as it was rolled out on a trial basis last March to favorable results.

Of the fans surveyed by MLB during 2025 spring training, 72% said the challenge system had a positive impact on their experience. Moving forward, 69% of those surveyed said they would like the sport to go ahead with ABS, versus 31% in favor of continuing with human umpires.

The system has been in development for some time.

The full ABS system was first used in the independent Atlantic League in 2019. The challenge system was first used in the Florida State League in 2022. During the 2023 and 2024 Triple-A seasons, both the challenge system and full ABS were tested. By the end of 2024, full ABS had been pushed aside in favor of the challenge system, which continued to be used in 2025.

Here is how the system works:

• Virtual Strike Zone: Hawk-Eye’s multicamera system tracks pitches in a 3D space, defining a strike zone based on the batter’s height and the width of home plate. The cameras will be used in every MLB stadium.

• Automated Calls: The system sends the ball-strike decision to the home plate umpire via earpiece for the initial call.

• Challenges: Pitchers, catchers, or batters can challenge a call immediately by tapping their helmet or cap. A manager cannot initiate a challenge.

Each team gets two challenges per game. With a successful challenge, the call is overturned, and the team keeps the challenge. If unsuccessful, the call stands and the team loses that challenge.

If a game goes into extra innings, any team that starts the extra inning out of challenges will get one challenge for the 10th inning. If they exhaust that challenge, they will then get another challenge for the 11th, and so on.

If a team has challenges remaining at the start of the 10th inning, they will not get an additional challenge for that inning, though they will for any subsequent inning if they are out of challenges at the start of the inning.

There is full transparency as a graphic will show the pitch’s path on the scoreboard in each stadium after a challenge is initiated.

MLB said its goals for ABS are:

• Increased accuracy and consistency: The new system aims to remove human error and create a consistent strike zone for all players.

• Player-driven: Since managers and coaches cannot challenge, it prevents dugout interference by requiring players on the field to initiate challenges.

• Quick reviews: Reviews are fast (around 15 seconds), displayed on screens, and powered by a 5G network.

In 288 games with the ABS Challenge System during spring training 2025, there were an average of 4.1 challenges per game, and those challenges took an average of 13.8 seconds. It is important to note the system will also be used in the 2026 MLB postseason.

According to MLB, because challenges can be lost, it is incumbent upon the player to be judicious about asking for a challenge (i.e., not “wasting” it in a low-leverage spot so that it is available to his team in a high-leverage spot). So in that sense, the ABS system adds strategy to the sport.

Matt Loeschman
Managing Editor | West Valley

mloeschman@iniusa.org

Meet Matt

Matt Loeschman has had two separate stints at Independent Newsmedia. He began as a reporter covering Peoria and later Surprise from 2000-2009. In 2017, he returned to Arizona and INI as the news editor of the Daily News-Sun (now the Phoenix Independent). He previously covered the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League for more than a decade.

Community: During high school football season since 2017, he contributes live postgame radio reports to the AzPreps 365 Friday Night Football Wrapup Show. He supports organizations such as Phoenix Children’s, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley and the American Cancer Society.

Education: The University of Texas at Austin majoring in Journalism-News and Public Affairs. 

Random Fact: He can sing and he has been fortunate to meet many famous people during his journalism career including First Lady Hillary Clinton, King of Country Music George Strait and Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. Attended all 4 home games of the 2001 World Series.

Hobbies: Watching and playing a wide variety of sports, including golf, tennis, pickleball and softball. Playing PlayStation 5, working out, shopping and reading.