Robot umpires are coming to the big leagues in 2026 after Major League Baseball’s 11-man competition committee on Tuesday approved use of the Automated Ball/Strike System. LEARN MOREStadiums are outfitted with cameras that track each pitch and judge whether it crossed home plate within the strike zone. While the strike zone actually called by big league umpires tends to be oval in shape, the ABS strike zone is a rectangle, as in the rule book. Narrowing the strike zone led to an increase in walks and only small changes in strikeout rates. The bottom of the strike zone has been 27% since 2022 after initially being set at 28%.