Rob Manfred: Robot umpires may be tested at spring training - ESPN

ARLINGTON, Texas — Major League Baseball hopes to test robot umpires as part of a challenge system during spring training next year, making an automatic-ball-strike component possible as early as 2026. But MLB commissioner Rob Manfred still seems far from committing to that date, saying Tuesday 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 automatic-ball-strike system, or ABS, at the minor league level for the last five years and began using it at all Triple-A ballparks in 2023. Initially half the games used ABS for every call and the other half used the challenge system, but MLB went exclusively to a challenge system — whereby the home-plate umpire calls balls and strikes as usual and teams have a limited number of calls that can be reviewed — on June 25.

The switch, Manfred said, was «almost one-hundred percent» based on feedback from players who prefer a challenge system over full ABS. Manfred added that the accuracy of ABS is «good to a hundredth of an inch» and the technology on the path of the ball is «perfect» — but it's still not fully ready.

«One thing we learned with the changes last year is — a little more time is better than not enough time,» Manfred said. «And I mean that just in terms of making sure — when you bring something to the big leagues, you