Milwaukee Brewers' Sal Frelick Makes Interesting Claim Regarding ABS

The Automatic Ball-Strike Challenge System powered by T-Mobile, or ABS, made its 2026 Spring Training debut on Friday ahead of its first season of implementation in Major League Baseball.

According to MLB.com, the ABS has been tested in the minor leagues since 2022 and was utilized throughout Spring Training last year. This season’s Opening Day will introduce it to the biggest stage. It is not a perfect system, and Milwaukee Brewers’ right fielder Sal Frelick has already identified one of its flaws.

In an appearance on Foul Territory TV, Frelick expressed that several players are under the impression that zone measurements by the ABS are not being applied to crouched batting stances.

“We’re under the impression right now that wherever you get measured at doesn’t come into play if you then crouch in your batting stance,” Frelick said. “So, if you’re a guy who gets really low in his batting stance, they still take the frame from when you were just standing upright.

“Again, this is just what I’m hearing,” Frelick said. “We’re talking about it. So, if guys are like really crouched down in their batting stance, they’re like, ‘I don’t want to get measured standing straight up because my zone is gonna be higher.’ So, yeah, guys are talking about it.”

According to MLB.com, the ABS functions to monitor the exact location of each pitch, relative to the specific batter’s zone.

If a batter disagrees with a call from the umpire, they can request a challenge that prompts a graphic to appear to display the result, which is then transmitted over a 5G network T-Mobile’s Advanced Network Solutions and displayed to fans in attendance or watching from home.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Frelick added. “I’m kind of on the side of, I don’t think it’s gonna impact the game.”

Frelick’s criticisms do not come from a place of displeasure, and he believes that the system’s flaws will get worked out eventually.

“I think the open dialogue is fine,” he said. “I think, you know, it’s good for baseball. It’s kind of exciting when you see the ball come in on the jumbotron similar [to] like a tennis challenge and whatnot, but I think it eventually is going to iron itself out and It’s gonna be pretty normal again.”

Frelick also highlighted that because teams are only allotted two challenges per game, they will not immediately be willing to use them. It is also worth noting that only the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge the call of an umpire. Not even managers can make the decision to call for a challenge.

“I don’t think teams are super eager to use those challenges in non-leverage situations,” Frelick said. “So, I don’t think it’s gonna come out as much.”

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Milwaukee Brewers’ Sal Frelick Makes Interesting Claim Regarding ABS

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