Sure, choose a spotlight game to test out the system on the best players in baseball
As broken by Jesse Rogers at ESPN on Thursday, the automated ball-strike system (ABS) is coming … to the All-Star Game, next Tuesday!
The move anticipates a reality where home plate umpire calls on balls and strikes are a thing of the past. As soon as 2026, ABS could in play for every major league game.
The same process used this past Spring Training will be the method used at the All-Star Game, as both teams will have two challenges to ball-strike calls. Like with instant replay challenges currently in the game, if a challenge to the pitch call is successful, the challenging team retains its challenge.
Only a pitcher, catcher or hitter can ask for a challenge, and the challenge has to be made within seconds of the pitch call. A player will tap his head to indicate he wants to challenge. Help from the coaching staff, players in the dugout, or players on the field is forbidden.
MLB officials point to overwhelming support for the system by fans, and ABS has been successfully tested in the minor leagues already. Later this summer, baseball’s competition committee will meet to decide whether ABS will be a factor in the game in 2026.
ABS does NOT mean that all balls and strikes will be made by the system — which uses “Hawk-Eye” technology to track pitch trajectory — merely those challenged by players.