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TAMPA — The Yankees will get their first taste of the possible not-too-distant future in Friday’s Grapefruit League opener.
The automated ball-strike system (ABS) will be in effect at Steinbrenner Field this spring, including Friday’s game against the Rays, as Major League Baseball tests the challenge system during exhibition games ahead of potentially installing it in the regular season as soon as 2026.
ABS does not make for robo umps, but instead teams will get two challenges per game — which can be called for only by the pitcher, catcher or hitter within two seconds of the pitch.
If the challenge is deemed successful, the team does not lose it.
The Yankees had a trial run with the system — which will be in play in eight of the 13 stadiums in the Grapefruit League — on Wednesday during their live batting practice.
Yankees are using ABS during this Judge vs. Gil live BP (via @GJoyce9) pic.twitter.com/GoTlvQi3LW— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) February 19, 2025
Players can call for a challenge by tapping their helmet or hat, at which point the scoreboard shows whether the pitch was in or out of the strike zone as determined by the Hawk-Eye tracking system.
The strike zone for each batter is determined by their height.
“I think the biggest thing is for all of us to get to see how it works, see how we like it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But I’m going in with no hard and fast rules.”
Boone said his players initially can challenge a pitch whenever they want to, though he indicated they might add some structure as the spring goes along.
If the system was being implemented this season, the Yankees would be much more proactive in developing a strategy for it from the get-go.
But there are a few Yankees in camp who have experience with it after ABS was used at Triple-A in the second half of last year (and on weekends at Single-A).
“I think it’s awesome,” said J.C. Escarra, Friday’s starting catcher who got used to ABS last season. “I did notice [the strike zone] it cuts off a little bit of the top and gives more on the bottom, but every zone is going to be different now and we can use that to our advantage.”
Escarra said he tried to use one challenge in the first five innings of a game but then would keep the other in his back pocket for the end of the game.
“Just so the umpire knows that you really gotta be on every single pitch because if you mess up, I’m going to be checking because I have another chance to reverse a call,” he said.
Escarra indicated the system did little to interrupt the pace of play.
“Right when someone checked it, the umpire turned around, asked to see it on the screen and in a matter of five seconds, it was already on the screen,” he said.
And Escarra does not believe the ABS will decrease the value of catcher framing.
“How many pitches do I catch in a game? Probably 150, 200,” Escarra said. “So those are just some that I can manipulate. Even if I do steal a strike, that doesn’t mean a hitter’s going to catch it because he might think it’s a strike, too, and it’s a ball. So I think there’s still value.”
