The 2025 Professional Baseball KBO League plans to lower the ABS strike zone, introduce relief pitch Clark, and expand the 3-foot line, among other changes.
On the 4th, the KBO announced changes to next year’s season, including lowering the ABS strike zone, officially introducing the detailed rules of Pitch Clark for the 2025 KBO League, demonstrating the introduction of Check Swing video interpretation for the Future League, and expanding the main range of runners under the first base and 3-foot line rules for batters. system and content, etc.
With the introduction of this season, the player group and each team have put forward many opinions on the ABS zone, which has raised many opinions, and the 3-foot line, which has caused controversy in the judgment. The results of the 6th Executive Committee recently confirmed the above.
The ABS Strike Zone, which was introduced for the first time in the world in the 2024 season, will be adjusted down overall in the 2025 season.
The KBO listened to opinions through player group questionnaires, etc., and discussed the majority of opinions on the need to adjust the upper strike zone.
The new strike zone replaced in this year’s ABS strike zone is proportional to the height of the batter, with the upper and lower ends applying 56.35% and 27.64% respectively.
The KBO explained: “Based on this season’s game indicators, ABS judgment zone comparative analysis, expected changes brought about by strike zone adjustments, etc., the executive committee has been discussing the applicable zone settings starting from the 2025 season, and finally decided on the upper-end, The lower end is reduced by 0.6 percentage points (about 1 cm for a player with a height of 180 cm), and the upper end is 55.75% and the lower end is 27.04%. “
However, the size of the area does not change and the overall movement is downward. Except for the upper and lower ends of the zone, the middle surface and end of the strike zone, the left and right width, etc. will maintain the current regulations.
KBO explained: “This is through a process of collecting opinions from expert TF meetings, players, coaches, and people involved in the field that continues during the season, and adjustments are made to reflect the ABS zone that is higher than the existing strike zone, taking into account The current trend of hitting pitchers in the league and the drastic adjustment may lead to additional confusion and decisions.”
The difference between the upper and lower ends is about 1.2% of all pitching decisions this season. In addition, the lower rate of 27.04% applicable to next year’s season is the same as the lower rate of the ABS zone for the minor league trial operation.
KBO explained, “We will continue to communicate with the field, study improvement plans, and do our best to operate a fair and stable ABS that satisfies both baseball fans and players.”
The content of Pitch Clark, which will be officially introduced from 2025, has been carefully eased.
KBO explained: “The detailed regulations are not for the purpose of sanctions, but to show fans a more realistic game, which is expected to shorten unnecessary time and expand the application of Pitch Clark in international competitions, so it is necessary to adapt to the game. For the purpose, adjustments will be made within a range that minimizes the confusion caused by drastic changes and the impact on competitive levels. “
For this reason, we believe that not introducing restrictions off the pitcher’s plate will help guide the flexible use of various strategies during the game and maintain the natural rhythm of the game. Therefore, unlike the Major League Baseball (2nd time) and CPBL (3rd time), we decided not to Make restrictions.
The interval between batters is 33 seconds, and the interval between pitches is 20 seconds without a runner and 25 seconds with a runner. A batter is allowed a maximum of 2 timeouts per batting position. In addition, the “pitching interval – when there is a runner” item is also set to be different from Major League Baseball (18 seconds), CPBL (25 seconds), and 2024 KBO League trial operation (23 seconds) 25 seconds of relaxation.
Inning rotation times and pitcher rotation times have also been partially adjusted based on input from the field. The alternation time in the game has been increased from the current 2 minutes to 2 minutes and 10 seconds, and the pitcher change time in the game has been advanced from 2 minutes and 20 seconds to 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
KBO South’s position is: “In addition, the KBO set the KBO South’s position by referring to the cases of overseas leagues such as MLB and CPBL that currently introduce and operate the Pitch Clark system, and comprehensively reflecting the opinions of on-site and experts collected through TF meetings. The most suitable time for the league.”
In addition, starting from next year’s season, video playback of grid swings will be introduced in Future League as a demonstration.
The KBO explained, “The video interpretation target of Check Swing, which was proposed on the spot for introduction, will be added to the game, and it has been confirmed that it will be introduced as a demonstration at some KBO Future League stadiums in the 2025 season.”
The criteria for checking your swing are as follows. When a batter swings to hit a ball thrown by a pitcher, and due to the momentum, the angle of the bat is closer to the direction of the pitcher than the point parallel to the front of home plate, the umpire determines that the swing is a strike (a hit). The side reference of the golf club is 90 degrees for KBO and 135 degrees for Arizona Education League).
In order to formulate relevant regulations, KBO has been conducting on-site opinion collection and on-site testing. Since August, grid swing reading cameras have been put into trial operation at some courses, and the suitability of using the secured images has been studied. In addition, during the season, cases in overseas leagues such as the United States and Japan were carefully studied. In November, in order to investigate the “check swing challenge” that was being trialled in the Arizona Education League in the United States, referee committee members and responsible staff were dispatched to the local area for investigation and analysis.
The survey results show that the United States also believes that further verification is needed in terms of the accuracy and completion of the judgment, and it takes a very cautious stance on the introduction.
Based on this, the KBO Operations TF collected opinions from internal and external experts and player representatives, immediately retained the introduction into the KBO League, and finally determined the model introduction for the KBO future league.
However, due to differences in the environment of each stadium’s camera installation, Future’s stadium with a suitable equipment installation environment will be selected for demonstration operations.
Detailed rules have also been added for the 3-foot line, which has caused the most controversy this season. Its main content is that the batter’s 1-3-foot Lonnie Rule runner’s range is mainly expanded.
In the existing home field, the rule that the second half of the first base base runs inside the 3-foot lane designated on the field was decided to be extended to the dirt part inside the first base double skating area.
The rule, which Major League Baseball has revised starting this season, clarifies the main range of runners and is expected to minimize the inconvenience and on-field confusion experienced by right-handed hitters.
However, if the umpire believes that running on the turf does not necessarily mean that the runner is out, and it hinders the running of the first base ball on the infield lawn, the umpire will decide to issue an out in violation of the rules.
For this reason, it was decided to adjust the width of the inside of the first-base foul line, which currently differs among each stadium, so that all stadiums can adjust it uniformly before the warm-up games next year.
[金元益 MK体育记者]
