US EditionRobot strike zone will create winners and losers among pitchers, batters who earned human calls
The system uses 12 Hawk-Eye cameras measuring pitches with one-sixth inch accuracy and affects pitchers like Kyle Hendricks who led with 777 incorrect called strikes over the last decade.
- Major League Baseball introduced the Automated Ball-Strike System for the 2026 season, making its regular-season debut Wednesday night when the New York Yankees play at the San Francisco Giants. Using Hawk-Eye technology with 12 cameras, the system measures whether pitches cross the strike zone with accuracy of about one-sixth of an inch.
- Previously, umpires relied on subjective judgment to call balls and strikes, often resulting in inconsistent rulings across games and seasons. The new ABS system replaces these human decisions with data-backed precision, eliminating the strike zone subjectivity that plagued baseball for decades.
- Teams receive a limited ability to challenge umpire decisions under the new rules. After two unsuccessful challenges, a team loses the right to contest further ball-strike calls for the remainder of the game.
- Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander expressed concern that challenging calls slows the game, warning that overturning a single pitch could grow 15 to 20 more pitches on a pitcher. His concern reflects broader worries about game pace under the new system.
- Critics describe the challenge system as a compromise between accuracy and tradition that degrades the fan experience. Many observers hope this represents a one-season transition toward fully automating all ball-strike calls for consistent, instantaneous accuracy.
33 Articles
33 Articles
Bulletin-Review
ABS will create winners, losers among pitchers, batters who earned human calls
Major League Baseball’s new Automated Ball-Strike System changes how pitches get called, and some players gain while others lose. On Wednesday night, it makes its regular-season debut.
Associated Press News
Robot strike zone will create winners and losers among pitchers, batters who earned human calls
Major League Baseball’s new Automated Ball-Strike System changes how pitches get called, and some players gain while others lose.
Major League Baseball can now call balls and strikes with 100% accuracy… but will only use the system in the most annoying way possible
The 2026 Major League Baseball season will be the first in which a computer will be used to determine balls and strikes. The strike zone has been redefined for this Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system, to eliminate subjectivity. However, instead of simply using this technology, which allows MLB to set the strike zone with millimeter-level precision and enforce it with absolute consistency, to call all balls and strikes, it has decided to use it o…
Kevin Gausman got 709 strikes sung during the last decade with pitches outside the strike zone, tied with the third highest total in the Major Leagues.
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