Who is more advantageous in introducing the ABS challenge, Raleigh and Ohtani, who opposed it at first and said it helped in the All-Star game?

Sep 24, 2025

Who is more advantageous in introducing the ABS challenge, Raleigh and Ohtani, who opposed it at first and said it helped in the All-Star game?
Seattle Mariners catcher Carl Raleigh. AP Yonhap News



Major League (MLB) introduces the challenge system 'ABS (automatic ball-strike system)'. Starting next year, if you have objections to the center's ball and strike decision, you can ask for a challenge. The so-called robot bumpire appears. However, it is a different method from ABS, which is fully implemented for all pitches in the KBO. It can be seen as an `assisted role' for the judgment of the centripetal.

MLB announced on the 24th (Korea time) that it will conduct a challenge system for balls and strikes next year following the MLB Competitiveness Committee vote today.

It has already been verified. It has already gone through five years of robot referee testing in the minor leagues, and Major League players also experienced spring training and All-Star games this year.




However, not all 11 members of the MLB Competitiveness Committee approved of this system. It is said that some of the four representatives of the players opposed it.

ESPN said 'The robot referee system will significantly reduce the number of exits. 61.5% of the exits of players, coaches and coaches last year involved ball and strike decisions. According to the Umpscorecards, the call accuracy of big league referees is approximately 94%', with the ratio being 60.3% until the 22nd of this season.

Who is more advantageous in introducing the ABS challenge, Raleigh and Ohtani, who opposed it at first and said it helped in the All-Star game?
LA Dodgers Shohei Ohtani. ImagesYonhap News
ABS Challenge is given twice per team. If the game goes to extra time, you can play every inning, and challenge opportunities that you couldn't use during regular innings are also valid. The subject of the challenge request is not the director. Pitchers, catchers, and hitters can do it. The request signal is to tap the helmet or hat. If the challenge is successful and the decision is reversed, the pitch will be exposed to the electronic display so that the spectators can see it.




The ABS system is similar to a line-call system that determines whether a ball is in and out in tennis.

Twelve cameras are installed at each stadium to determine the error range in units of one-sixth of an inch, or 0.423 cm. The ABS zone is created on the home plate in the form of a virtual flat square, with a width of 17 inches (43.2 centimeters), the same as that of the home plate, and the lower boundary of the height is 27% of each batter's height and 53.5% of the upper boundary. In other words, Shohei Ohtani's ABS zone, which is 1m 90cm tall, is formed at 43.2cm wide and 51.3-101.7cm high.

The success rate of the ABS challenge in spring training games from February to March was 52.2%. However, there was a difference of 56 percent in the catcher's success rate, 50 percent in the batter, and 41 percent in the pitcher's, surprisingly, the success rate of the challenge was low.




The MLB Competitiveness Committee consisted of four players, six club officials, and one referee. Four of the six players participated in the vote, including Arizona Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll and Jack Gallen, Seattle Mariners Carrolli, New York Yankees Austin Slater, Chicago Cubs Ian Hep and Detroit Tigers Casey Mize.

Club officials are Seattle President John Stanton, St. Louis Cardinals CEO Bill DeWitt Jr., San Francisco Giants President Greg Johnson, Colorado Rockies CEO Dick Monfoto, Toronto Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro and Boston Red Sox President Tom Warner. The referee is Bill Miller.

Who is more advantageous in introducing the ABS challenge, Raleigh and Ohtani, who opposed it at first and said it helped in the All-Star game?
The ball was reversed to a strike through the ABS challenge when AL starter Tarik Skubal struck out NL Manny Machado with a third changeup in the bottom of the first inning in the All-Star Game on July 16 (Korea time). Photo =MLB.com Game Day
Raleigh, who ranks first in historic home runs as a catcher, succeeded by playing the ABS challenge in the All-Star Game held at Truist Park on July 16. Raleigh, who started as an AL catcher, requested an ABS challenge and drew it to a strike when starting pitcher Tarik Skubal threw a 3rd pitch 89.5 miles low to Manny Machado on a two-strike in the bottom of the first inning. This is the first ABS challenge success from an official Major League Baseball game.

At the time, Rowley said "I definitely saw it as a strike. So I asked for it, but it turned out and it helped us."

However, Raleigh expressed his opposition when he test-operated ABS during spring training earlier this year. He told The Seattle Times that `I'm not in favor of ABS. I don't think it's a good idea to remove the human element from baseball games. I think we should continue what we were doing. It maintains the value of his position as a catcher.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.