Why MLB players are tapping on their head in new ABS challenge system
This is how you make it happen.
Why MLB players are tapping on their head in new ABS challenge system originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Major League Baseball season in 2026 brings with it a new gesture to a sport full of hand signals: the head tap.
Players across MLB will be tapping their head as the season goes along as part of the new ABS challenge system (automated ball strike). Pretty soon, fans and people on benches will probably be doing the gesture, too, to signal that they disagree with the home plate umpire. It's certainly a fun, simple way of moving the game along while also activating the ABS system.
MORE: Mike Trout, Tiger Woods, and Superman without his cape Why are MLB players tapping their head? The head tap gesture is how to activate an ABS challenge. If the batter disagrees with a pitch called a strike, or if a pitcher or catcher disagrees with a pitch called a ball, they can tap their head to challenge.
The head tap has to be the first gesture done after the umpire's call. A hitter during Spring Training flipped his bat away before deciding to tap his head to challenge, and the challenge wasn't granted. MORE: Mets, Marlins risk Moneyball Ron Washington mistake Once the head tap is made, the umpire signals to the booth that a challenge is happening, and a view comes up on the scoreboard showing the result of the pitch and whether the call has been overturned or stands.