Major League Baseball's Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System made its long-awaited debut in the 2026 season, bringing AI-powered pitch tracking into the highest level of professional baseball after more than five years of testing.
The system uses a network of high-speed cameras to construct a real-time 3D model of every pitch. Each team receives three ABS challenges per game โ if a manager or batter believes an umpire made a wrong call, they can appeal to the system, which delivers its verdict within seconds.
Through the first six weeks of the season, ABS challenges have overturned 34% of disputed calls. Pitchers have complained that the system is unforgiving at the edges of the zone, while batters say it has improved consistency dramatically.
For 150 years, the strike zone has depended on who's behind the plate. That's finally changing. โ Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux
Commissioner Rob Manfred has signalled that a fully automated system could replace human umpires for ball-strike calls entirely by 2028 or 2029. The umpires union has filed a grievance.
