Robot umpires have arrived. This season, Major League Baseball has started using the ABS (short for automated balls and strikes) challenge system. It is a device for players to appeal ball or strike calls. Human umpires will still call the vast majority of pitches. Only a handful will be challenged and even fewer will be overturned. “I’m excited for it,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge told MLB.com about the ABS challenge system last month. “I think it’s going to be a little weird, because I’m not an umpire. I’m a hitter. I’ve never been in the box trying to think about, ‘Is this a ball? Is that a strike?’ If I feel like I can hit it, I feel like it’s a strike.” MLB has tested and retested ABS, both as a fully automated zone and the challenge system, in the minor leagues over the last several years. How does it work: Each team gets two challenges per game with which they can appeal a ball or strike call. Similar to instant replay, you keep a successful challenge, so a team could supposedly challenge every single pitch as long as they’re successful. Only the hitter, pitcher, and catcher can challenge pitches. It can’t come from the dugout. Once a challenge is initiated, the home plate umpire announces it to the crowd and ABS is shown on the television broadcast and also the scoreboard at the stadium. The entire process takes about 15 seconds. Similar to regular instant replay, the goal of the ABS challenge system is to correct the most egregious missed calls, though we will see some ticky-tack replays as well. More than a few times this spring, calls were overturned on pitches ABS measured at less than 0.1 inch in or out of the zone. ABS challenges are a strategic decision as much as anything. Who gets to challenge and when they get to challenge will be very important, and every team will have different guidelines. You can’t just challenge the first incorrect call every game, you know? Expect a feeling-out process early in the season as teams figure out what works and doesn’t work for them.
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