Early this week Major League Baseball’s Joint Competition Committee voted to implement the automated ball strike challenge system to the big leagues next season bringing in a new era for the league.
In this new territory, teams will have two challenges each, if it is successful, they retain the challenge. The challenge will be shown inside the stadium on the big screens showing exactly where the pitch was located in or out of the strikezone. Only the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge the call with no outside help from other players or coaches.
In each extra innings, teams will be awarded a challenge if they have none remaining going into the inning. If they have any remaining after nine innings, they will carry over.
This comes after the system had been experimented in Triple-A since 2022, as well as in spring training and the All-Star game this year. The challenge system has been well received by fans and players alike. Over the past couple of years fans have been voicing their complaints about missed calls and been asking for change.
What commissioner Rob Manfred has tried to do is try to make the game better and despite the flack he gets he has done a good job. He implemented the pitch clock, that has been a great addition and now the ABS challenge system,
“We used the same process with ABS that started with listening to fans, conducting extensive testing at the minor league level, and trying at every step to make the game better,” Manfred said in a statement on Tuesday.
During spring training this season teams successfully challenged calls about 50% of the time. Catchers had the most success winning 56% of the challenges followed by 50% for hitters and 41% for pitchers. There is an added element to the game with the ABS system that can help get rid of the negative attention towards umpires.
“ABS Challenge strikes the right balance of putting a tool in the players’ hands to correct a missed call in a high leverage spot while retaining the human element of the game and adding a new fan-friendly engagement moment,” said John Stanton, chairman of the competition committee and chairman of the Seattle Mariners in a statement Tuesday.
The biggest debate in recent years has been whether to have the full robot umpires or the challenge system meeting halfway. This makes a point that the league is willing to listen to fans as well as players who might not have wanted the full robot ump experience. It will be different for fans, but should lead to a better experience.
