Major League Baseball announced it will use the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system during the 2025 All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta, marking the technology’s debut in a marquee event as the league weighs a broader rollout.
The ABS system, which is already being tested in the minor leagues and during spring training, allows pitchers, catchers, or batters to challenge a ball or strike call immediately after it’s made by the umpire.
Each team receives two challenges throughout the game and can retain them if successful, with no help permitted from the dugout or other players.
Challenges are signaled by tapping a hat or helmet, and the system uses Hawk-Eye tracking to instantly determine the correct call, resulting in minimal time between the initial challenge and determination of the call.
This adoption in the 2025 All-Star Game comes shortly after MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced plans to present the system to the league’s competition committee in the offseason.
“My single biggest concern is working through the process and deploying it in a way that’s acceptable to the players,” he said in early June, per CBS Sports. “There’s always going to be things around the edges that we need to work through and whatever, and I want them to feel like we respected the committee process and that there was a full airing of concerns about the system, and an attempt to address those concerns before we go forward.”
Results from the system’s stint in spring training were generally positive, with the MLB stating that 52.2% of ball-strike challenges were successful during games, which is an increase from the 50.6% that were successful in the Triple-A in 2024.
Overall, the majority of baseball fans have expressed interest and approval in the system being implemented in the major leagues.
MLB officials stated that 72% of fans polled during spring training believed it was a “positive” addition, with another 69% saying they would like it to become part of the game in the future, according to ESPN.
Additionally, only 10% of those who took the poll said they were against the addition.
Although there is no guarantee that this system will be adopted by the major leagues, integrating it into the All-Star Game is the first step in making fans aware that it could be added in the near future.