MLB removing strike zone box from broadcasts due to ABS system

Field Level Media|published: Tue 17th February, 13:42 2026

Hawk-Eye tracking cameras are positioned around the stadium. Five cameras are used to track pitches. Additional cameras around the stadium are used to track player position and ball location. Major League Baseball is testing an Automated Ball-Stike (ABS) challenge system at select spring training parks. The system allows players to challenge a limited number of ball/stike calls during a game. Calls can be overturned if the pitch tracking technology shows an umpire got a call wrong.

Major League Baseball broadcasts no longer will use the strike zone box to indicate where the pitch was a ball or a strike, a move that coincides with the league's implementation of the automated ball-strike challenge system.

The box itself still can be used, but viewers will have to gauge for themselves whether the pitch was a ball or a strike.

The change is being made so that players can't be tipped off through a signal as to whether to challenge a strike call. Teams will be allowed to challenge two calls in each regulation game.

MLB will begin using the ABS system this season after it was tested in Triple-A and during 2025 MLB spring training games. It will make its formal debut on March 25 on Opening Night when the New York Yankees visit the San Francisco Giants in the first-ever live MLB broadcast on Netflix.

"With ABS now determining the zone," an MLB spokesperson said, per Yahoo, "we want fans to trust the system without second-guessing every call through a digital strike box."

--Field Level Media

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