Back in May, commissioner Rob Manfred indicated the automated strike zone system -- ABS for automated balls-strikes -- would likely come to Major League Baseball in the form of a challenge system when the time comes. The challenge system uses human umpires, and each team can appeal pitches to ABS (three challenges per game). It's already used at several minor-league levels, including Triple-A.
It is still unclear when ABS will arrive to MLB, either as full ABS or as a challenge system, but whenever it does, it will be tested in spring training first. A few hours before the All-Star Game on Tuesday, Manfred said it is important to test ABS with big-league players in spring training before fully implementing it, and that could happen as soon as 2025. From MLB.com:
"One thing we learned with the changes last year is, a little more time is better than not enough time. Just in terms of making sure when you bring something to the big leagues, you've got to make sure you got it right," Manfred said. "We have made material progress; the technology is good to 100th of an inch; the technology in terms of the path of the ball is pluperfect, number one. Number two, we have listened – me, in particular, and I've carried a lot of this water with the owners – to player input on how they want to see it rolled out. Our focus, obviously, the second half of this year is on the challenge system, and that is almost 100% based on player feedback. I think that's important as progress."
MLB has been very diligent about testing and refining ABS, especially with the shape of the strike zone. Manfred and MLB are not rushing into anything, and that's the correct approach. The strike zone is too critical to the sport to move forward with anything other than an ABS system everyone -- MLB and the players -- agree on. A spring training trial is a no-brainer.
Player opinions are all over the place, as our Matt Snyder wrote from All-Star week. Some players are for ABS, some are against it, some are indifferent. Keep in mind that more than a few current big leaguers played with ABS in the minors, as well as on rehab assignments. As with the pitch clock, it won't be long before a significant chunk of the player population is experienced with ABS from the minors, and minimal adjustment will be required.
The Korea Baseball Organization implemented full ABS this season and offense ticked up league wide. Last year, the KBO averaged .712 OPS. This year it's a .766 OPS. Minor leagues that use ABS initially saw an increase in strikeout and walk rates, though those have changed as the shape of the strike zone has been adjusted.
