MLB’s Joint Competition Committee approved the Automated Ball Strike (ABS) system for the 2026 season on Tuesday.
The committee is made up of 11 — six owners, four players and an umpire. Because MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has been strongly in favor of implementing ABS and there are six owners (a majority) on the committee, the belief was that the legislation would pass.
Now, for the first time in games that count, umpires alone will not have final say on every pitch. The era of Robot Umps has its initial steps.
The ABS system was tested both during this past spring training and in the July All-Star Game with a zone set for individual hitters based on height — which will be the case for the 2026 campaign as well. The system has been used at various levels of the minors since 2021 and in all Triple-A games since 2022.
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