Baseball purists will be furious with MLB's latest tests during Spring Training

Baseball has already taken some great first steps towards not only speeding up the game but making its product more enjoyable for an increasingly younger audience consuming the sport.

For the most part, MLB has seen great success with the pitch clock and bigger bases leading to more steals, but the sport's number one issue continues to be something that can be easily fixed by leaning into modern technology.

That's why MLB is now testing its Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system during Spring Training, which would effectively take away the bulk of a home plate umpire's role throughout games.

MLB is set to test the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system during Spring Training games.

Here’s a look from Yu Darvish’s live BP:pic.twitter.com/g2zwy0qCsX
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 20, 2025

For many baseball purists, the idea of having an automated system for balls and strikes might seem to be a wild concept that takes some time to get used to, but at this stage of technology it would eliminate all the ambiguity and controversy that comes with these calls.

Maybe on some levels the controversy is actually good for the game because it generates tension and sometimes leads to players and managers being thrown out. However, there are plenty of instances where there are blatant calls inside and outside the zone that are incorrectly called and as a viewer it's simply infuriating.

If networks like ESPN and TBS can have an on-screen strike zone that updates with every single pitch it's only logical that MLB can use that same technology in-stadium to actually implement the proper calls into games.

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