The Major Leagues are already working on improving the sporting experience for the coming seasons and it is for this reason that they are working on applying the Robot referees for spring training of the 2025 campaign; In total there will be 13 stadiums modified with this technology in which 19 teams will play to verify their quality and effectiveness.
According to statements made by Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred, The objective is to be able to test the automatic balls and strikes system that has already been applied in minor leagues from 2019 and take it to the Major Leagues for the 2026 season; Despite this, they continue working on polishing the shape of the strike zone and that is why they want to try it in spring training.
Likewise, he explained that in order to fulfill the objective of taking it to the Big Top, an agreement would have to be reached for the use of these mechanisms with the Major League Referees Association, whose collective contract expires on December 1.
“I would be interested in having it in 2026. We have a collective bargaining obligation there. That is obviously a term and condition of employment. We will have to work on that issue as well. There are two aspects to that test. There is what the clubs think about her and also what the players think about her? And we will have to analyze both,” said Manfred, who explained that they hope to be able to verify all the failures during these weeks of practice.
According to the AP, Triple-A stadiums used ABS this year for the second consecutive season; Currently this mechanism declares strikes based solely on where the ball crosses the midpoint of the plate, 8.5 inches from the front and back; He also detailed that the top of the strike zone was increased this year to 53.5% of the batter’s height of 51%, and the bottom remained at 27%.
“I think we will have an ABS test in spring training that will provide a significant opportunity for all major league players to see what the challenge system will be like. It will not be in each stadium, but in reality we have a plan where each team will have significant exposure,” the commissioner concluded in his statements.
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