The Major League Baseball will advance towards the automation of arbitration decisions in the 2026 season, establishing a challenge system from which the plays can be reviewed using camera technology and algorithms. This innovation, whose objective is to increase precision and transparency in the definition of balls and strikeswas confirmed after almost five years of intensive trials that They covered minor leagues and exhibitionsaccording to ABC News.
He automatic balls and strikes system (ABS) will be used at the highest level of professional baseball under a modality where the human umpire issues the first decision and teams can challenge up to two plays per game.
When requesting the challenge, if the team gets it right, keep the option; If not, he loses it, having an additional challenge only in extra innings. Only the batter, pitcher or catcher you can request itsignaling the intention with a discreet touch on the helmet or cap, without assistance from the bench.
The margin to file the challenge is two secondsperiod after which the image of the play appears on the scoreboard and the television broadcast, and the umpire update the count. This procedure has already been applied in 288 games during last spring traininghe states ABC News.
Through cameras equipped with technology Hawk-Eyethe ABS determines whether a pitch crosses the strike zone, considering the individual height of each hitter, which is measured between 10 a.m. and noon during the preseason to maintain uniformity.
Measurements are made without shoesand the data is verified by the Southwest Research Instituteindependent applied research institute. ABC News indicates that calibration requires less than a minute per player.
The reviews carried out during the last spring training They took on average 13.8 secondsaccording to ABC News.
The statistics collected in minor leagues show that the challenges were successful approximately 50% of the time.
In Triple-Athe last season yielded 49.5% correctjust below 50.6% from previous year. The defenses, especially the receivers, consolidated themselves in the strategic use of this tool, reaching 53.7% of their reviews in front of 45% achieved by batsmen. Challenge rates increase in critical situations: only 1.6% of first pitches are contesteda percentage that rises to 8.2% on full accounts.
The strike zone managed by ABS strictly adheres to the regulationsshowing a rectangle that contrasts with the traditional oval shape applied by umpires. The width was reduced in 2022 from 48.3 to 43.2cmequaling the measurement of home and generating an increase in walks awarded, although only with slight variations in strikeouts. From 2022, the base of the zone is set at 27% of batter’s heightwhile the upper limit, after successive adjustments, reached 53.5% in 2024 after complaints from pitchersas indicated ABC News.
ABS issues his verdict at the midpoint of home plate —21.59 centimeters from the front and back—, while the regulations establish that the zone is a cube by which any part of a pitch becomes a strike.
The accuracy of human umpires, according to records UmpScorecardsplatform for statistical analysis of arbitration decisions cited by ABC Newsis located in 94%.
The temporal analysis indicates that The percentage of challenges went from 1.9% in the first three innings to 3.6% in the ninth.
The ABS project began in the minor leagues in 2019 and was applied in the All-Star game of the Atlantic League that same year, as well as in the Arizona Fall League for top prospects.
In 2021, the system was installed in eight of the nine stadiums of the Low-A Southeast League and then moved to Triple-A in 2022, where parties with completely automatic decisions and others in which only challenges were used coexisted. Since June 26, 2024, in Triple-A The challenge modality is used exclusively.
During the last MLB All-Star Gamefour of five challenges presented to the umpire’s decisions Dan Iassogna they turned out correct.
