MLB to test robot umpires as part of challenge system at next Spring training, plans use in 2026 regular season

Major League Baseball (MLB) will test the use of robot umpires as part of a challenge system during Spring training next year, with the aim of implementing the system in the 2026 regular season.

The automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system will be trialed at 13 ballparks hosting 19 teams in 2025 to allow players to experience the new technology as the league works out how best to implement it, according to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

“I think we will have a Spring training ABS test that will provide a meaningful opportunity for all Major League players to see what the challenge system will look like,” Manfred said on Wednesday at the league’s owners meetings.

“It won’t be in every single ballpark, but we actually have a plan where every team will get meaningful exposure to that.”

He also said that there are ongoing conversations between the MLB and the Umpires Association in relation to the new technology, with their collective bargaining agreement set to expire on December 1 this year, per the Associated Press.

“We do have a collective bargaining obligation there. That’s obviously a term and condition of employment. We’re going to have to work through that issue, as well,” Manfred said.

Although Manfred admitted that he “would be interested” in bringing in the ABS challenge system for the 2026 regular season, the commissioner added that the players’ experience with it will go a long way in deciding when it will be implemented.

“It depends on how the test goes,” Manfred said. “From my perspective, there are two sides to that test: it’s what do clubs think about it and what do the players think about it? We’re going to have to sort through both of those.”

Through the new system, human umpires will still call balls and strikes, but teams have a limited number of challenges with which they can appeal on-field decisions. Teams retain the challenge if they are successful.

The ABS technology uses Hawk-Eye cameras to track the location of each pitch in relation to the strike zone.

ABS has been used in Triple-A baseball – a minor league – since 2022 in various formats and was also used for the second year in a row at the MLB’s All-Star Futures Game in July.

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