MLB Unlikely to Use Automatic Ball-Strike System During 2024 Season, Rob Manfred Says

In a year already so full of changes for Major League Baseball, the league does not plan on implementing the automatic ball-strike system anytime in the near future, according to Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Following an owners meeting Thursday in New York, Manfred revealed that the robot umpires won't be brought up to the big leagues in 2024 as there are still a couple of problems with the system.

He also admitted the league wants to wait a bit before implementing another major set of changes to the game.

"I think there's some sentiment among the group that we made had a lot of changes here," Manfred said. "We ought to let the dust settle and there are clearly unresolved operational issues with respect to ABS. Despite all the testing, we still have some things that are unresolved."

Over the last several years, the automatic ball-strike system has slowly climbed its way up the ranks. From beginning in 2019 at the independent Atlantic League's All-Star game to the Arizona Fall League of top prospect and eventually Low-A ball in 2021.

It reached Triple-A last year but it still has its fair share of kinks.

One of the main issues has been trying to define a computerized strike zone.

As a result, Triple-A hasn't completely committed to the system, with about half the games being called by the robot and the other half relying on an old-fashioned umpire. Teams can still use the system to appeal a call in the latter scenario.

"There are several important questions about how best to deploy this powerful technology that remain unanswered at this point," MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword said. "We hope to use this season's test at Triple-A to make progress on those questions."

Sword was one of the people at the head of some of the changes seen in MLB in 2023, including the pitch clock. He's also one of the leaders when it comes to the automatic ball-strike system.

In addition to the pitch clock, the league also implemented restrictions on defensive shifts, pitcher disengagements and larger bases. All of these changes have resulted in an increased pace of play with the average game time dropping from 3 hours, 5 minutes over the last few years to 2 hours, 38 minutes this season.

So, fans should be excited for the arrival of new changes—distant as they may be— after seeing how the current ones have already improved the sport.