By Staff Writer: Jacob Mattox
Major League Baseball begins a new era with the introduction of the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS), a new technology that is designed to bring more accuracy to one of the game’s most debated aspects, balls and strikes. Rather than the system fully replacing umpires, it is currently used as a challenge tool, allowing batters, pitchers, and catchers to challenge calls in real time.
The ABS system uses advanced tracking technology, similar to the tech used in tennis, to follow the exact path of each pitch to determine whether it is a ball or a strike. Each stadium has multiple cameras that create a digital strike zone tailored to each batter’s height, ensuring precise measurements down to fractions of an inch.
During games the home plate umpire still makes the official call, but pitchers, catchers, and hitters can immediately challenge the call by signaling right after the pitch. Reactions up to this point in the season have been mixed, with fans and players appreciating the increased accuracy but umpires have felt that the new system puts their calls under a microscope.
Only time will tell how this new system will affect the game long term, but theoretically the ABS system allows baseball to maintain its human element by allowing umpires to make calls behind home plate, while having a built in safety net to ensure the biggest moments of each game are decided as accurately as possible.