SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — As you know, at long last MLB players will get the chance to challenge ball-and-strike calls during games beginning this year. Officially called the ABS challenge system, this has been tested in Triple-A games for a couple of years and had a test in some Spring Training games in 2025.
Thursday, the league gave a presentation about how the system will work as part of Cactus League media day. Joe Martinez, who pitched for four MLB teams from 2009-13 and who is now the league’s Vice President for On-Field Strategy, presented facts about how the tests have worked and how the system will work in action in MLB games this year.
For those of you worried about ABS challenges lengthening games, remember that teams get just two challenges per game (which are retained if the player is correct, so in theory, there could be more). In Triple-A games last year, ABS challenges added one minute and eight seconds to the average game time and in 2025 Spring Training games, that addition was 57 seconds. It’s just not a big deal.
Martinez mentioned a couple of minor tweaks to the rule. If a team is out of ABS challenges after nine innings, they will get one additional challenge in the 10th. If that challenge is used in the 10th, they’ll get another in the 11th, but if not used, the one challenge simply carries over to additional extra innings.
As you know, the challenge can be initiated only by the batter, pitcher or catcher, and must be done within about two seconds. The umpire has the right to “wave off” a challenge if players take too long. Two other tweaks were also mentioned:
- No ABS challenges will be allowed if a position player is pitching, and
- If an incorrect ball/strike call impacts a play on the bases, the umpires have discretion to then place any runners involved.
MLB surveyed fans about this system and 72 percent had a positive view of ABS challenges, with only 10 percent seeing it as negative. Minor league players who were surveyed also liked it, with 60 percent in favor of the challenge system (and another 16 percent voting for “full ABS”). Really, this is something whose time has come. With pitch-tracking technology now available, it’s just been a matter of tweaking the system to find one that’s agreeable to all.
The box that will be used for ABS challenges will be the width of the plate, at the middle of the plate (the point at which the plate’s edges begin to angle to its rear point). Each player will be measured and thus there will be a personal box for every player, with the top of the box at 53.5 percent of the player’s height and the bottom at 27 percent of the height.
Martinez said that if any part of the ball touches said box, it’s a strike. That will clearly be shown on the graphic that will be shown to fans at ballparks and on TV broadcasts. One thing that the league is aiming for is to have the boxes shown by MLB Gameday, by TV broadcasts and by Baseball Savant to be the same box. So for those who have said, “Well, that box you see on TV isn’t the real strike zone,” MLB intends for that to be the actual zone for each player.
The number of ABS challenges will be shown on scoreboards, in most cases replacing the “MVR” currently shown for “Mound Visits Remaining,” though MVR is also supposed to be “prominently displayed.” At Wrigley Field, MVR has been shown on the right-field video board, while the score line has been on the left-field board. I would assume the Cubs will find a prominent place to show both ABS and MVR.
The graphic shown above, which is from last year, will be tweaked to also show the team that is challenging the call, and after the call is either confirmed or overturned, the count will be shown so that players, coaches and fans will know what the current count is. Umpires will also make an announcement over the PA system that there is a ball-and-strike challenge, as well as the result.
The method of challenge, as you likely remember from last year, will be for the pitcher, catcher or batter to tap his cap or helmet. Players are also being encouraged to verbalize the challenge so that the umpire can hear it as well as see the gesture. If there is a play after the pitch (for example, a stolen base attempt), the challenge can be made and accepted at the conclusion of that play.
To help ensure that players aren’t getting assistance from the dugout for ABS challenges, the league will institute delays on pitch location data in MLB Gameday and there will be a nine-second delay for the broadcast feed to show pitch location to dugouts. That’s only for players and coaches, though. As reported by MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince, here’s how it will work for you, the fan:
It remains up to the individual broadcasters to determine whether and how to present the zone. The only change is that MLB is now requesting broadcasters to no longer differentiate the circle in the box depending on whether the pitch is a ball or a strike. In other words, some broadcasts would show a filled-in circle on the zone if the pitch was a strike and a hollow circle if it was a ball. MLB is asking its broadcast partners to do one or the other but not both.
So you will probably continue to see some sort of strike zone box on game broadcasts
The following rules will be in effect for any ABS challenges that might also trigger a traditional replay review:
- If there is potential for a review following an ABS Challenge, umpires will check that neither manager wants to initiate a Replay Review before restarting the clock.
- If a manager want to challenge a play following an ABS Challenge, the request must come immediately after the conclusion of the ABS Challenge (thus no 15-second manager hold as you often see for replay review).
- If these two types of reviews are requested simultaneously, the umpire will accept the ABS Challenge first and then prompt managers for Replay Review.
- The play types that are most likely to be impacted are plays on the bases (stolen base attempts or pickoffs) and HBPs.
In this year’s Spring Training, all games between two MLB teams will have ABS challenges available. If a MLB team plays a college team, minor-league team or WBC team, ABS won’t be used (so not in the Cubs vs. Italy game on March 3). Further, this year’s WBC will not use ABS challenges — though the WBC will use the pitch timer for the first time.
There were two other unrelated rule changes mentioned at the demonstration.
One has to do with obstruction. A runner who initiates contact with a fielder with the intent to “draw” an obstruction call will be called out. If a runner does this, umpires should treat it like “unsportsmanlike conduct,” thus the runner is out and all other runners will return to the base last touched.
The other has to do with positioning of base coaches. You have certainly seen many base coaches far out of the official “coaches box” which is designated (usually) by white lines on the first- and third-base sidelines. Now, base coaches will have to be positioned in those coaches’ boxes between pitches when the pitcher is on the rubber. If the umpires observe a base coach outside of the coaches’ box between pitches while the pitcher is on the rubber, they will warn to coach and instruct him to return to the box. If, after receiving a warning, the coach is observed outside the box again, the umpire may remove the coach from the game. The purpose of this change is to help prevent sign-stealing.
Of course, players will have to be judicious in when they call for challenges. Limiting teams to two per game creates strategy. You wouldn’t likely bother, for example, calling for a challenge if a pitch in a scoreless game in the second inning with nobody on base is perceived to be incorrect. This proved to be true in the Triple-A tests, with only about two percent of pitches challenged in the first two innings, but with that percentage rising to 3.5 percent in the ninth inning. It was different in the MLB Spring Training test last year, with more pitches challenged in the early innings. This is likely because MLB players are playing the early innings and were encouraged to use more challenges. That’s what happened, in fact, in the very first ABS challenge, called for by the Cubs’ Cody Poteet (remember him?) last February.
Personally, I’m excited to see ABS challenges become part of the game. There are quite a number of players who are very good at strike-zone judgment and who have been victimized by what Cubs analyst Jim Deshaies always calls “egregious” bad calls. Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki is one of these players. I think we’re going to see Suzuki strike out somewhat less because of this rule.
Here’s the entire MLB presentation if you’re interested.