MLB Deploys Automated Ball-Strike System Amid Umpire Concerns

MLB debuted the automated ball-strike (ABS) system for regular-season games on the Yankees’ opening-day matchup in San Francisco, employing 12 Hawk-Eye cameras and granting each team two challenges per game.

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MLB first used QuesTec’s Umpire Information System in 2001, expanded to a league-wide Zone Evaluation via PITCHf/x in 2009, integrated TrackMan radar with Statcast in 2017, and has applied Z-E evaluations each game since 2009, adding expanded video review in 2014.

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Former umpires Richie Garcia (1975-1999), Sam Holbrook (1996-2022) and Ted Barrett (1994-2022) voiced concerns: Garcia described public humiliation, Holbrook noted the impossibility of 100 % accuracy, and Barrett highlighted generational demand for certainty and the mental strain of overturned calls.

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MLB reported 368,898 pitches called in the 2025 regular season with a 92.83 % accuracy rate (?11 missed calls per game), up from 89.31 % in 2016. In 2026 spring training, batters succeeded on 46 % of 887 challenges while defenses won 60 % of 1,020. Team challenge success ranged from Philadelphia’s 61 % to Texas and Arizona’s 33 %.

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MLB officials say ABS is intended to eliminate egregious missed calls and to apply a uniform strike-zone defined as a box covering 53.5 % of a batter’s height at the top and 27 % at the bottom, differing from the rulebook’s cube. The league notes that challenges are retained only when successful and that the system is designed to complement, not replace, human judgment, with performance data feeding future umpire evaluations.

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Garcia argues that reliance on a computer “operated by some computer geek” erodes umpire authority and subjects them to public humiliation. Holbrook says social-media scrutiny magnifies pressure for flawless calls, suggesting technology may shift blame rather than solve errors. Barrett acknowledges the mental strain of instant failure feedback when calls are overturned.

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• “I think it's embarrassing, embarrassing to the umpires that are calling the game. Nobody likes to be humiliated in front of 30,000, 40,000 people,” — Richie Garcia, former MLB umpire (1975-1999)

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• “You want to be absolutely 100% correct, but we're all human and that's just not possible," said Sam Holbrook, an MLB umpire from 1996 to 2022.” — Sam Holbrook, former MLB umpire (1996-2022)

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• “I'm 60, and it seems to me like the younger generation really wants this technology and they want the certainty of a pitch being a ball or a strike,” — Ted Barrett, former MLB umpire (1994-2022)

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• “It's tough mentally on an umpire because you failed at your job and there's that instant feedback of failure," Barrett said.” — Ted Barrett, former MLB umpire (1994-2022)

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Spring-training data from 2026 provide metrics of ABS challenge outcomes, giving MLB a basis to evaluate the system’s effectiveness.

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