MLB's latest venture appears to be taking more of the human element out of the game, with a test run of an automatic balls and strikes (ABS) challenge system put in during 2025 spring training.

A new automated system that allows MLB players to challenge ball and strike calls is being tested in spring training games. Opinions on the system, and its effect on the purity of the game, have been ...

This spring training will introduce a new element to the action: for the first time, MLB will employ the automated ball-strike system (ABS for short) during big-league contests. ABS is ...

Baseball purists look away — the human element is slowly being taken out of the game. Major League Baseball is implementing the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system for the first time ...

In the experiment, a piece of cowhide stripped from an MLB ball was placed on the sensor. Nine individuals took turns sliding their forefingers on the seams of the ball while pushing the fingers ...

MLB has tested the challenge system — as well as a full automated ball/strike system, in which the plate umpire merely signals what the computer called — in the minors in recent years. So ...