While potential new changes like a golden at-bat and mandatory minimums for starting pitchers seem to be no more than fantasy at this point, there could be more tangible change on the horizon for MLB’s rulebook.
That process is going to begin with the implementation of an automated ball-strike (ABS) system during Spring Training games in 2025. The possibility of the ABS challenge system making its way to MLB really began picking up steam this past June as it was fully implemented for the remainder of the Triple-A season.
It’s similar to how the pitch clock was tested in a final checkpoint before its full MLB implementation in 2023.
After some initial pushback, the pitch clock has been an unquestionable success for MLB and they are motivated to replicate those results with the ABS challenge system.
During an appearance on Questions For Cancer Research, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the technological kinks are worked out and now it is about refining the minutia:
“I think we continue to make progress on the automated ball-strike system. The technology is really outstanding. I mean, this technology is actually accurate to one-one hundredth of an inch. So we got that piece of it down. We’re now dealing with the more – I don’t want to say mundane – but less-technology-based pieces of the puzzle.
“How do you set the strike zone batter to batter? The system will call any geometry of a strike zone; it will call a rectangle, a circle, an oval, whatever. What strike zone should we tell it to call? That’s challenging because the rule book definition of the strike zone is not what umpires actually call today.”
Just one month into the ABS being used in Triple-A games, the results from Minor League testing were so positive that MLB had hopes of advancing to the next stage of testing in Spring Training.
Manfred added determining how to establish and define the strike zone is among the hurdles that will be evaluated while the ABS is tested in the spring:
“The rule book is a rectangle, and they actually call an oval. So we’re working through those non-technology pieces. We continue to make good progress through our testing in the Minor Leagues. We’re actually going to have a Major League test during Spring Training. Every team will play somewhere between 12 and 27 games, where the challenge system is available to Major League players during Spring Training. We think that’s another important step along the way of getting ready to bring the system to the big leagues.
“I think you should think about our effort in bringing the (pitch) clock to the Major Leagues as an example. We did several years worth of work in the Minor Leagues, we made refinements, we understood very well the consequences to the clock, and I think we want to be in the same position with ABS before we bring it to the big leagues.”
The patience and attention to detail shown by MLB during the development of the pitch clock and other changes are key reasons the new rules have been so successful.
It is a good sign to see that they are taking the same approach with the ABS challenge system and hopefully the end result will be the same.
MLB owners considering salary cap proposal
There could also be off the field changes on the way to the MLB operation with some owners said to be considering salary cap proposal when it is time to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement in 2026.
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