The Big Lead

Automated strike zone could be coming to the MLB sooner than later

By Max Weisman

The MLB wants to improve the accuracy of strikes and balls
The MLB wants to improve the accuracy of strikes and balls / Robert Edwards-Imagn Images
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Bad calls on balls and strikes always infuriate fans and are usually the major complaint after a close game, or a bad call in the late innings. More accurate calls are a big goal for Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, who said the MLB is set to experiment with automated balls and strikes during spring training. The system won't be implemented at every spring training park, but every team will play at least one game with it.

According to The Athletic's Evan Drellich, Manfred said the league has its eye on automated balls and strikes in the regular season soon as well.

“I would be interested in having it in ’26,” Manfred said at the MLB’s central office.

The league has experimented with two types of automated calls in the minor leagues since 2019. One system was used by umpires on every pitch, while the other allowed teams to challenge a call three times during a game. According to Drellich, the league expects teams to have two challenges during spring training, but if a team wins its challenge it retains it.

Here's what it's looked like in the minors.

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“I think we will have a spring training ABS test that will provide a meaningful opportunity for all major-league players to see what the challenge system will look like,” Manfred told Drellich. “From my perspective, there’s two sides to that test: It’s what clubs think about it, and also, what do the players think about it? And we’re gonna have to sort through both of those.”

Manfred has to negotiate a new contract with MLB umpires this offseason as well, the previous one signed in 2019 is set to expire, and the automated strike zone is a part of those negotiations. How that will affect the bargaining is yet to be seen, but Manfred has acknowledged it could become an issue.

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