Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images
Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler has had it with Major League Baseball umpires. As far as he is concerned, the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system that was tested in Spring Training needs to be implemented in Major League Baseball on a full-time basis.
The Automated Ball-Strike system has already been used during the All-Star Game this year in Atlanta. It was the same system that has been in use in Minor League Baseball since the 2023 season. It allows teams two challenges, which they get to keep if their challenge is successful. The challenges may be made by pitchers, catchers and batters, but must be made immediately after the umpire’s call.
The ABS system has already proven to be more accurate than human umpires, but it’s not just about the accuracy, according to Butler. He explained his reasoning for wanting the ABS challenge system in MLB when he was asked by Alex Tantrum of MLB FITS what he would change if he was commissioner for a day.
Lawrence Butler is ‘fed up’
“I’m fed up with the umpires,” Lawrence Butler replied. “I’ve had enough with the umpires. They miss too many calls both ways. They call strikes balls, balls strikes.
“I want the challenge system. Three [per game], just like they do it in Triple-A. If you look at Triple-A, the umpires are a little bit more cautious of what pitches they call, because they know a pitcher or hitter might challenge it and it might embarrass them. So they might be a little bit more cautious to pull that trigger. I feel like up here, they don’t five a f—.”
Lawrence Butler is frustrated with some of the umpires and ready for ABS at the MLB level 👀 pic.twitter.com/ulCXvmpe7w
— MLBFITS (@_mlbfits) August 18, 2025
Unfortunately for Lawrence Butler (and many baseball fans), a large number of MLB players (63.4 percent) said in a poll conducted by The Athletic in June that they are against implementing the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system in regular season games.
What fans are saying
“MAN’S SPEAKING FACTS. Being a home plate ump isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination but god—- when you have mf’s calling strikes when it’s in the batters box then how tf do you expect us to support them lmfao,” one fan commented.
“He’s absolutely right,” another fan concurred. “They had ABS in Spring Training and I thought umps were much more accurate calling balls & strikes because of it. Then the regular season started and they went right back to being terrible, because there was no ’embarrassment factor.'”
“I’d say this too if I was a strikeout machine,” another person wrote.
“Good luck the rest of the season bro, umps about to ice you out,” read another comment.