MLB approves ball-strike challenge system for next season

Automated ball-strike challenges are coming to Major League Baseball next season.

A Tuesday vote from the MLB Joint Competition Committee, an 11-person group that includes six team owners, four players and one umpire, made the proposed rule change official.

"The previous rule changes that have been adopted by the Joint Competition Committee have had staying power and created momentum for the game. 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," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "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 today."

The system was tested in spring training and at the 2025 All-Star Game, and has been utilized throughout minor league baseball since 2022.

Manfred previously said the challenge system had ownership support, but he was getting more feedback at midseason on "deploying it in a way that's acceptable to the players."

Already Manfred foreshadowed the system's imminent arrival with an agreement with the umpire union that added provisions for ABS (automated balls and strikes) adoption. Manfred thanked the umpires union for collaboration on the plan Tuesday.

In spring training, MLB charted a total of 288 ABS Challenge use cases and 4.1 per game. Upon review, 52.2 percent of challenges to umpire callas were overturned.

Catchers had the most success challenging calls with a 56 percent overturn rate compared to 50 percent for hitters and 41 percent for pitchers.

On average, an ABS challenge lasted 13 seconds, MLB said Tuesday.

While the committee does include one active umpire, it has the power to unilaterally implement rules changes. With a majority vote, the six team owners -- all appointed by MLB -- would have been sufficient to pass the new ABS rules.

Human umpires will remain behind the plate and call balls and strikes, as well as perform their usual roles. But teams will have two appeals of the judgment call made by the traditional umpire. Teams are allowed to challenge another call if their appeal leads to overturning a call.

The move represents Manfred's preferred middle ground between fully automating ball and strike calls and continuing to use human umpires.

Seattle Mariners chairman John Stanton, who serves as chairman of the competition committee, said the ABS system is an improvement that grants the players a corrective tool when they disagree with a judgment call.

"The ABS Challenge System is another big step forward for the game," Stanton said. "ABS Challenge strikes the right balance of putting a tool in the players' hands to correct a missed call in a high leverage spot while retaining the human element of the game and adding a new fan-friendly engagement moment.  I want to thank the Commissioner's Office, the Players Association, and the Major League Umpires for their dedication to the greatest game ever invented."

In December, the competition committee passed rules changes for the 2024 season: widening of the runner's lane to include the dirt between the foul line and the infield grass; reducing the pitch clock allotment by two seconds with runners on base; and reducing mound visits by one.

--Field Level Media