Manfred: MLB may test automated strike zone challenge system in 2025 spring training | News, results, highlights, stats and rumors

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the automatic strike zone challenge could be tested during spring training next year.

Manfred added that this could potentially lead to implementation in MLB for the 2026 season. Since the start of last season, there has been positive progress across Triple-A baseball with the system being used.

MLB began automating ball striking in 2019. Since then, the system has been expanded to all Triple-A ballparks. Three games per week are tested with the automated system. A challenge system was used for the other three games.

MLB sent out a memo last month informing Triple-A clubs that they would no longer use ABS for all calls. Instead, they would move to a challenge system for the remainder of the season due to player frustration. In a survey of players and staff, 61 percent said they would prefer the challenge system, compared to just 11 percent who preferred ABS on every pitch.

“Those who have played with it prefer the challenge system to ABS, which calls every pitch. And that certainly changed our minds about where we might be heading,” Manfred said in May.

If and when ABS is introduced in the majors, it would almost certainly be as part of a challenge system.

The system would work similarly to that in professional tennis, where umpires make a decision and players can appeal if they disagree.