As Major League Baseball continues testing its Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system in spring training, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone has emerged as one of the technology’s most vocal critics, expressing concerns about game flow and the potential elimination of the art of pitch framing.
“I don’t think I like this,” Boone said after witnessing multiple challenges during a recent spring training game against the Houston Astros. “Pitcher, catcher all of a sudden, we’re doing that half a dozen times a game, and now we’re in the back end of the game and we’ve got two, so we’ve got to use it on this. I don’t know. It creates division for players. I could see that being a tricky situation.”
Challenge system disrupts baseball’s rhythm
The spring training test of ABS allows batters, pitchers, and catchers to immediately challenge ball and strike calls, with teams receiving two challenges per game. Successful challenges don’t count against a team’s total.
During the Yankees-Astros matchup, four challenges occurred in just four innings — a frequency Boone believes disrupts baseball’s natural rhythm. Non-roster Yankees catcher Omar Martinez successfully challenged a ball call to a strike, while second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. unsuccessfully disputed a strikeout.
“I’ve liked it on some level, the theater of it, seeing it pop up,” Boone admitted. “But when sporadically throughout the game there’s eight, nine, 10 [challenges], that feels weird to me.”
The irony isn’t lost on observers that Boone — ejected 39 times in his first seven seasons as Yankees manager, primarily for arguing balls and strikes — now worries about too many disruptions to the game’s flow.
Boone fears ABS to disrupt Yankees’ pitch framing
Beyond game rhythm concerns, Boone expressed particular apprehension about how ABS might fundamentally alter catching skills, especially pitch framing — an area where the Yankees have invested heavily.
“That receiving skill part of things is real,” Boone emphasized. “I think our catchers … we’re really, really good at that. I think it’s an important part of the game.”
Pitch framing has become a prized defensive skill, with catchers subtly adjusting glove positions to make borderline pitches appear more like strikes. Yankees starting catcher Austin Wells has developed strong framing abilities, following the organization’s long-standing emphasis on this aspect of catching.
Boone’s perspective is shaped by his father, Bob Boone, a four-time All-Star catcher renowned for his defensive prowess before pitch framing became a formally tracked statistic.
“He would get talked about, why he won Gold Gloves,” Boone recalled of his father. “It was because of the way he caught the ball.”
If MLB fully implements ABS for the 2026 season as rumored, the skill of pitch framing could become obsolete, with catchers potentially focusing exclusively on blocking and throwing.
Aaron Judge and the potential benefits of ABS
Interestingly, while Boone opposes the system, it could significantly benefit Yankees captain Aaron Judge, whose towering 2.01-meter (6-foot-7) frame has made him a frequent victim of questionable high-strike calls.
ABS would likely eliminate such misjudgments, potentially allowing Judge to work deeper counts without concern for strike zone inconsistency. Judge set an American League record with 62 home runs in 2022 and has maintained elite offensive production, despite sometimes facing strike calls on pitches technically outside his strike zone.
Boone, however, suggests Judge’s elite plate discipline actually contributes to his receiving questionable calls.
“Part of the reason Judge gets called out is because he has great strike-zone control,” Boone explained. “The guys that are great tend to get banged a little bit because they have the nerve and the skill to take the tough pitch that I’m swinging at and putting in play. He’s taking that pitch that [is a couple inches] off the plate. Crappy hitters swing at those sometimes.”
Compromise solution proposed
Rather than rejecting technological assistance entirely, Boone has proposed a modified approach that would limit challenge opportunities while preserving the human element of umpiring.
Boone suggested limiting challenges to just one per team from the seventh inning onward. He noted this approach would allow teams to address particularly egregious calls in tight game situations that are obvious to everyone watching.
This compromise would allow teams to contest crucial late-game calls while preventing excessive early-game interruptions that could damage baseball’s traditional pace.
MLB’s technological evolution
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has been transparent about the league’s exploration of automated strike zones. While “robot umpires” aren’t imminent, the challenge-based ABS system being tested this spring could arrive in regular-season games by 2026.
The system has already undergone extensive testing in Triple-A, where games alternated between full automation and a challenge system. Player and coach reactions have varied, with some appreciating the consistency while others miss the traditional dynamic between umpires, catchers, and batters.
As spring training progresses, Boone has advised his players to think strategically about challenges.
“One thing I’ve talked about is being mindful of starting to think situationally around it,” Boone said. “A 3-2 close pitch both ways matters a little more than an 0-0 pitch in the second inning that you think is borderline.”
Whether baseball embraces full automation or adopts a limited challenge system, the debate highlights the tension between technological accuracy and baseball tradition. For traditionalists like Boone, preserving certain human elements might be worth the occasional missed call.
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