For the first time in 95 MLB All-Star Games, a ball or strike might not be called by a human umpire. For tonight's MLB All-Star Game, MLB will utilize the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System, which will give pitchers, hitters and catchers an opportunity to instantly challenge an umpire's pitch call.
The ABS uses sensors and cameras to determine if a pitch should be called a ball or a strike. Each team will be given two challenges, and teams will be allowed to retain a challenge if their appeal is successful.
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This won't be players' first experience with the ABS system. The ABS was used during MLB Spring Training earlier this year. Also, younger players likely used the system as it has been in place in minor league baseball since 2022.
Only a pitcher, catcher or hitter will be allowed to call for a challenge. They must immediately tap their head to signify a challenge.
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During Spring Training, slightly over half of all challenges were deemed successful. According to MLB stats, 54% of challenges by the pitching team were overturned, while 50% of challenges made by the hitting team were changed.
There was an average of 4.1 challenges per Spring Training game. MLB said that each challenge, on average, took 13.8 seconds to complete.
Pitchers Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes both said they don't plan on using the challenge system, adding they like the "human element" of umpires.
"Pitchers think everything is a strike," Skenes, an All-Star representing the Pirates, said. "Then you go back and look at it, and it's two, three balls off. So we should not be the ones that are challenging it. I really do like the human element of the game. I think this is one of those things that you kind of think umpires are great until they're not."
MLB has said ABS may be implemented in some form as soon as the 2026 season.
