Ball-Strike Challenge System Coming to MLB Spring Training
Upon further review, take your base.
That could be the call come spring training when MLB will test a ball-strike challenge system, commissioner Rob Manfred told Jack Curry of the YES Network on Monday. The commissioner said the move comes after he spent three years talking to players in clubhouses gathering feedback on the idea, which has been tested in the minor leagues.
“Overwhelmingly, players favor the challenge system,” he told Curry. “That was not where we started. Describing the skepticism of some players, he said the feedback he got was “if this system is so good and it’s so accurate, why don’t you use it all the time?”
“The players made points about the impact on the rest of the game that were different than things we were thinking about,” the commissioner added. Still, MLB will “give it a whirl with the challenge system in spring training and see how it goes.”
Manfred has said the system will not be ready for regular season games in 2025, but some form of ball-strike challenges will be implemented before his term runs out in the 2028-2029 offseason. MLB has tested the challenge system and a fully automated ball-strike system in the minors. Most recently, in the Arizona Fall League, Mets prospect Jett Williams successfully challenged two 3-2 calls that turned strikeouts into walks.
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