MLB.TV
Three seasons after adding the pitch clock to TV broadcasts, baseball producers now are figuring out how to handle the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, which will be part of MLB regular-season games beginning this season.
ABS was the biggest topic of discussion at the annual MLB production meetings last month in New York, where league officials and game producers from around the country address broadcast elements, new technologies and best practices. Though ABS won’t be as impactful as the pitch clock, it will affect TV broadcasts.
The strike-zone box, which has become as vital to baseball broadcasts as the first-down line on football broadcasts, will remain on the screen, but it no longer will indicate whether a pitch was a ball or a strike.