MLB is “considering reducing” the presence of the strike zone approximation, the K-Zone, or “removing it altogether, across all telecasts” before the possible arrival of the automated ball-strike zone, according to Evan Drellich of THE ATHLETIC. The league “fears the digital box,” which hovers over home plate and shows and approximate strike zone on broadcasts, could “interfere” with the effectiveness of ABS “if and when the system arrives,” which would be 2026 “at the earliest.” ESPN debuted K-Zone in 2001, and since then it has “been mimicked on virtually every baseball telecast.” MLB EVP/Baseball Operations Morgan Sword said the box displayed on broadcasts and the MLB app “probably is inconsistent with the way we currently do it with the challenge system.” Sword: “You take a lot of the drama and excitement out of it if the fan can see up front that that pitch was a strike.” Drellich noted MLB thinks it is “possible the strike-zone box could ultimately stay on TV,” but with “modifications that make it appear a little less definitive.” The league will “try some on at least a handful of broadcasts this spring.” Though broadcasts “technically” retain final say over their telecasts, it would be “unusual for them not to cooperate with a high-level request potentially related to integrity.” Sword also said that he believed third-party telecast strike-zone boxes “are reliant on information MLB provides” (THE ATHLETIC, 2/19).
MLB considers removing strike zone box from broadcasts ahead of possible ABS debut
