How 2026 SEC Tournament strike zone challenge system will work

How 2026 SEC Tournament strike zone challenge system will work

The Southeastern Conference Tournament will be contested May 19-24 at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.

The 2026 SEC baseball tournament will feature a strike zone challenge system. The system will allow for balls and strikes to be challenged on an experimental basis for each game of the tournament, similar to the process implemented in MLB this season.

The strike zone challenge system will permit teams to challenge an umpire’s strike or ball call with an automated ball tracking system, monitoring an exact location of each pitch and relative to a specific batter’s zone.

Each team will receive three challenges to start a game. If a challenge is successful, the team will retain its challenge. If the original call is confirmed. A team will lose its challenge if the original call is confirmed.

How strike zone challenge system will work at 2026 SEC Tournament

SEC press release

The Hoover Met will be equipped with cameras, which will track the movement of the baseball. This is how the automated system can place the location of the ball within the strike zone.

Measurements of each player will be gathered prior to each team’s first game of the SEC Tournament. This will determine the appropriate strike zone for each individual player based on each player’s height.

Each team will start a game with three challenges. The challenge must be initiated immediately after the conclusion of the prior pitch, provided that if there is an ensuing play on a runner (including a batter-runner), or an appeal of a check-swing, the call may be challenged immediately upon the conclusion of the ensuing play.

Successful challenges will be retained, but an unsuccessful challenge will result in the loss of the used challenge. In extra innings, both teams shall be afforded one challenge per inning, which may be retained through the inning, but may not be carried over to any subsequent inning.

A challenge is initiated by a player tapping the top of the cap or helmet.

After the umpire signals that a challenge has been initiated, an animated pitch result graphic will be displayed on the stadium videoboard and on the television broadcast, showing the location of the pitch, whether the call was confirmed or overturned, and the updated ball-strike count.