MLB Rumors: Insiders Expect Automated Ball-Strike System to Be Used in 2026 Season
MLB officials "privately expect" the league to "formally introduce" an automated ball-strike system (ABS) in 2026 alongside a challenge system, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The league is notably "tabling the automated ball-strike system" for 2025.
The system (known as ABS) is being used in the minor leagues at the Triple-A level and the SIngle-A Florida State League.
On Thursday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred cautioned at the conclusion of the owners' meetings in New York that the ABS could be used in 2025.
"We still have some technical issues; I don't mean technology, I mean technical issues in terms of the operation of the system," Manfred said, per MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.
"We haven't made as much progress in the Minor Leagues this year as we hoped at this point. I think it's becoming more and more likely that this will not be a go for '25.
"One thing we did learn with the changes that we went through last year is taking the extra time to make sure you have it right is definitely the best approach. I think we're going to use that same approach here."
Feinsand noted the current issues as the "definition of the strike zone and setting the strike zone for individual batters, which can be based on percentages of a player's height or the positioning of camera systems."
At the Triple-A level, ABS is used for the first three matchups of six-game series (minor league games go off a week-by-week schedule, so the Triple-A Buffalo Bison visit the Syracuse Mets for a six-game set beginning Tuesday, for example).
The final three games then use a challenge system, which J.J. Cooper of Baseball America explained.
"Each team gets three unsuccessful challenges per game. Successful challenges do not count toward that total. All challenges must be made within two seconds of the call exclusively for the first three games and a challenge system is used in the last three."
Ultimately, it seems to be a matter of if and not when the ABS is used in MLB. Although it appears that 2025 won't see the introduction of ABS, it's clearly possible that we'll see it in action in two years time.
At the Triple-A level, ABS is used for the first three matchups of six-game series (minor league games go off a week-by-week schedule, so the Triple-A Buffalo Bison visit the Syracuse Mets for a six-game set beginning Tuesday, for example).
The final three games then use a challenge system, which J.J. Cooper of Baseball America explained.
"Each team gets three unsuccessful challenges per game. Successful challenges do not count toward that total. All challenges must be made within two seconds of the call exclusively for the first three games and a challenge system is used in the last three."
Ultimately, it seems to be a matter of if and not when the ABS is used in MLB. Although it appears that 2025 won't see the introduction of ABS, it's clearly possible that we'll see it in action in two years time.
