Robot umpires approved for MLB in 2026 as part of challenge system

Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday that it is adopting the Automated Ball-Strike System for the 2026 season, meaning that pitchers, catchers and hitters will have the ability to challenge a ball or strike call by a home plate umpire.

Teams can challenge two calls per game, with additional appeals in extra innings. A team will retain a challenge if successful. 

There was by no means unanimity among players about the idea of adopting it. Yankees outfielder Austin Slater was one of four players on the 11-person competition committee that voted to have ABS installed and said that their votes – three in favor and one against – reflected the votes that were held in all 30 Major League clubhouses.

“The players, in terms of clubhouses, were 22 in favor, seven against and one was split,” Slater said Tuesday afternoon.

He added that, broadly speaking, pitchers and catchers were less enthusiastic about adopting the system than hitters.

“Pitchers are probably not going to be in favor . . . just because it’s probably going to tighten the [strike] zone a little bit more,” Slater said.

He suggested it’s possible that hitters feel a ball is called a strike more often than a strike is called a ball.

ABS has been used in the minor leagues at different levels, and for different periods of time, since 2019. Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler pitched in games with it in the minors and explained that it cuts both ways.

“Sometimes a catcher can make a bad pitch look good and hitters can put their team in a bad spot if they use the challenges [unsuccessfully] too early in a game,” he said. “The other thing is that [if] the umpires get something wrong, everybody sees it and they can tighten up a little. That’s one thing I really didn’t like.”

Adding ABS is going to mean there is some strategy to using the two challenges.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that it could be beneficial in a tight spot when a 3-and-0 pitch or a 3-and-2 pitch outside the zone is called a strike. What has to be avoided is a player using it on a first pitch or too early in a game.

“There'll be some guys that I will be strategic and pre-shaming,” Boone said with a smile. He added “hopefully you're in a position to overturn the most impactful calls of the game on a given night.”

Schlittler said that, in the Yankees organization, pitchers don’t make challenges when they think a strike has been called a ball – that responsibility sits with catchers. He also said that, anecdotally, he’d heard that players across the minors in other organizations have lost permission to challenge when they’ve consistently lost them.

“It's going to be here and hopefully that's a good thing,” Boone said. “A lot of the things that Major League Baseball has done have been really successful...hopefully this is another one of them.”

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.