Major League Baseball (MLB) has finally announced that the Automated Ball Strike (ABS) Challenge System
has been approved for Major League play by a vote of the Joint Competition Committee.
MLB Press Release
Beginning in 2026, the “Challenge System” will be used in all Spring Training, Championship Season, and Postseason games. The Competition Committee – comprised of six owners, four active players and one active umpire – was created as part of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiated
between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). MLB has extensively tested the use of ABS technology in Triple-A since 2022, in addition to testing during 2025 Major League Spring Training and the 2025 All-Star Game. The final design of the system, including moving to the ABS Challenge format, is a result of significant feedback from players, coaches, front office staff, umpires, and fans.
- HOW IT WORKS: The ABS Challenge System runs on a 5G private network from T-Mobile for Business’ Advanced Network Solutions. Twelve (12) Hawk-Eye cameras set up around the perimeter of the field track the location of each pitch. If a pitcher, catcher, or batter disagrees with the umpire’s initial call of ball or strike, he can request a challenge by immediately tapping on his hat or helmet and vocalizing a challenge. The pitch location is compared to the batter’s strike zone, and if any part of the ball touches any part of the strike zone, the pitch will be considered a strike. The home plate umpire will announce the challenge to the fans in the ballpark and a graphic showing the outcome of the challenge will be displayed on the scoreboard and broadcast. The entire process takes approximately 15 seconds.
- ABS CHALLENGE SYSTEM RULES: Each club will start the game with two challenges, and all successful challenges are retained. Only the pitcher, catcher or batter may challenge an umpire’s call of ball or strike. Challenges must be requested immediately after the call, and players may not receive help from the coaching staff, other players, or anyone else. In each extra inning, a team will be awarded a challenge if it has none remaining entering the inning.
- ABS CHALLENGE SYSTEM STRIKE ZONE: The strike zone will be a two-dimensional rectangle that is set in the middle of home plate with the edges of the zone set to the width of home plate (17 inches) and the top and bottom adjusted based on each individual player’s height (53.5% of the batter’s height at the top and 27% at the bottom). As was the process ahead of 2025 Spring Training, independent testers will measure players in Major League Spring Training using a standardized process. MLB will certify each player’s official height before that player may appear in any Major League game.
Minor League Baseball’s Florida State League (Single-A) has utilized ABS since 2021, Triple-A has had ABS in select parks since 2022, and ABS has been across all of Triple-A since 2023. ABS Challenge debuted at the Major League level in 2025 Spring Training.
The 2025 All-Star Game in Atlanta also featured ABS Challenge:
Rays Reactions
Marc Topkin inquired with some Rays folks on the ABS system following the announcement. Here are two key quotes, but please read more at the Tampa Bay Times.
- Rays Manager Kevin Cash: “I’m excited to see it, to learn about it […] the Triple-A players that come up, the managers and stuff, and they seem to really like it. […] I think if it’s better for baseball, we’re all for it.”
- Rays Player’s Union Representative Pete Fairbanks: “There will be an adjustment period for everybody I think. Hopefully it promotes knowing the zone better on all three ends of the of the equation (pitcher, hitter, umpire).”
