How the SEC Baseball Tournament's ABS challenge system will work

The SEC will use an Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system during the 2026 SEC Baseball Tournament on a trial basis.

What does that mean? How will it work? Let’s break it down.

Umpires will still call balls and strikes, but teams can challenge calls, which will then be reviewed and decided using Hawk-Eye technology.

Each team gets three challenges per game. Umpires still call balls and strikes, but teams can challenge pitches at any point in an at-bat, including the final pitch. Reviews are handled by the ABS system. The defense can only challenge balls and the offense can only challenge strikes.

The ABS strike zone is a fixed, two-dimensional rectangle centered over home plate, 19 inches wide. Its height is individualized, with the top set at 58% and the bottom at 23% of a batter’s measured height. Any part of the ball touching the zone is a strike.

Per the SEC, all individual heights are inputed by each team.

(Better hope all teams are accurate in their inputs…)

Only the pitcher, batter or catcher can initiate an ABS challenge by tapping their cap, helmet or mask within 2–3 seconds of the pitch. Late challenges are not allowed and no coaches or other players can signal for a review.

A challenge starts when the pitcher, batter or catcher taps their headgear within 2–3 seconds. The umpire signals the challenge and the pitch is reviewed using the electronic strike zone. The result — confirmed or overturned — is then shown on the scoreboard and broadcast with the updated count.

Challenges must happen before any coach-initiated replay review and cannot be used after one begins.

If a challenge is successful, the call is overturned and the team keeps its challenge; if not, the call stands and the challenge is lost.

In extra innings, the SEC states that teams with no challenges left get one additional challenge for that inning only, while teams with remaining challenges do not.

Only the pitcher, catcher or batter can initiate a challenge, and it must be done without input from coaches or electronic devices. If outside help is suspected, the team loses the ability to challenge that pitch.

Check swings are ruled on by the SEC umpires before any review begins. If the batter offered, it’s a strike and the offense keeps its challenge.

There SEC will not allow arguments or protests allowed on ABS decisions. If the system cannot track a pitch, the original call stands and the team keeps its challenge.

Hawk-Eye tracks the pitch, so catcher framing has no impact — only whether the ball crosses the zone matters. Player measurements are taken in advance and a batter’s stance during the pitch does not affect the strike zone.

After a call is overturned, umpires decide runner placement based on NCAA rules, typically awarding the last base safely reached at the time of the pitch.

If the incorrect call didn’t impact how the play unfolded, only the call is changed while the rest of the play stands.

If a ball is overturned to strike three on a dropped pitch, the batter is out and cannot advance. If a strike is overturned to ball four, forced runners advance one base, while any extra advancement is at their own risk.

The SEC says real-time challenge data and team success rates will be available once the tournament begins on Tuesday.