Major League Baseball hopes to test robot umpires as part of a challenge system during spring training next year.
The move could make an automated ball-strike component possible as early as 2026.
Rob Manfred still seems far from committing to that date, saying that the league has \"technical issues surrounding the definition of the strike zone\" that need to be ironed out before it is even tested by major league players.
\"We need \'25 to do the spring training test if we can get these issues resolved, which will make \'26 a viable possibility,\" Manfred said during his annual pre-All-Star Game gathering with the Baseball Writers\' Association of America. \"Is that going to be the year? I\'m not going to be flat-footed on that issue.\"
MLB has been experimenting with an automated ball-strike system, or ABS, at the minor league level for the past five years and began using it at all Triple-A ballparks in 2023.