How Rangers Boss Skip Schumaker Plans to Use ABS System in Spring Training

SURPRISE, Ariz. — The 2026 season is a big one for Major League Baseball as the ABS system will be used in all games.

The automated ball strike system has been used regularly since 2022 in the minor leagues and was used in last year's MLB All-Star Game. It was also used last year at select spring training games. After an MLB vote in the offseason, it will be used in all regular-season games in 2026.

So, spring training won’t just be for players to get ready for the season. It will be for players, managers and team personnel to get used to having access to the ABS system for 162 games. That process starts in earnest on Friday when the Rangers face the Kansas City Royals in their spring training exhibition opener. Here is what Rangers manager Skip Schumaker had to say about the system on Tuesday.

Feeling Out the Process

The ABS equipment sitting on a desk in the press box at a Major League Baseball spring training game. — The ABS operator sits in the press box at LECOM Park during a spring training game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies. | Mike Lang / Sarasota Herald-Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

That’s been a common question for managers this offseason. For instance, Houston manager Joe Espada is only allowing his hitters and catchers to use the system to challenge calls and not his pitchers, reasoning that they’re closer to the plate.

Schumaker is going to use the spring training games to work out who can make those calls.

“You kind of see who can understand it, who knows the strike zone, both the catcher, the pitcher, and then obviously the hitter,” he said. “Then we can navigate who's allowed, I guess, to use it.”

Figuring that out is critical in Schumaker’s opinion. Each team starts a game with two challenges to use. If the Rangers win a challenge, they keep it. If they lose it, then it’s gone. So, if Texas makes two challenges and loses them both, they’re out for the game unless it goes to extra innings, when each team gets one challenge.

When To Use It

Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager swings his bat at a baseball during a game. — Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Schumaker said that it may be hard to replicate the high-leverage situations where those challenges might normally be use. Why? In spring training, there are no stakes in terms of games. Teams are running pitchers in and out of games and the emphasis is on seeing who will make the opening day roster and who won’t. That won’t leave many chances to apply the system to the situations he believes warrant the challenges the most.

“A lot of guys will be out of the game already in the fourth or fifth inning early on,” Schumaker said, referring to his veterans. “So, you want them to use it to feel to feel it out, but typically you want it, you know, most likely in higher leverage situations.”

As an example, he talked about using the challenge in a situation with no runners on with two outs in a full count in the fourth inning. He seemed less likely to use it there, but more likely to use it if Corey Seager is on-deck and the pitch at question is a 3-2 pitch in a game where Texas is behind by a run.

Who Will Use It?

Texas Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka, left, talks to pitcher Jack Leiter during a game. — Texas Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka, left, and pitcher Jack Leiter. | Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Schumaker hasn’t settled on that and said he’ll use spring training to determine who has the green light or a red light. But he expressed a lean toward catchers like Kyle Higashioka and Danny Jansen when there is a question behind the plate on a Rangers pitch.

“I think they probably have less emotion behind the plate and kind of know exactly where the pitch lands,” Schumaker said. “Sometimes you know pitchers, they can get emotional during big situations. And hitters the same way. So, I think you'll see the catchers challenge more than more than you know the pitchers or the hitters.”

It doesn’t mean hitters or pitchers won’t have the green light. But Schumaker said he needs to see them use the system in spring training to figure it out. He did say that when it comes to hitters, Seager and Wyatt Langford probably have the best strike zone discipline on the team, followed by Brandon Nimmo.

Feeling Out the Process

When To Use It

Who Will Use It?

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