![Florida's Aidan King (47) was the starter against Miami in NCAA Gainesville Regionals at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, Saturday, May 30, 2026. The Gators beat the Hurricanes 22-10. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2026](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_6109,h_3436/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ReutersImages/mmsport/213/01kxnpesapk47f467zdm.jpg "Florida's Aidan King (47) was the starter against Miami in NCAA Gainesville Regionals at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, Saturday, May 30, 2026. The Gators beat the Hurricanes 22-10. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2026")
College baseball got some big news this week when the NCAA Rules Subcommittee announced it had approved the use of ABS moving forward. According to Baseball America’s Jacob Rudner, the system can be used in any game where the technology is available. The system has been fully implemented into MLB this season and was given a trial run in college baseball during the SEC Tournament.
And based on how Florida used the ABS system during the SEC Tournament, the Gators might have a new hidden edge heading into the 2027 season.
Florida should take advantage of ABS in 2027
During the SEC Tournament this past season, Florida was one of the most effective teams at using the system. During their three games in Hoover, the Gators challenged 13 times and were successful on ten of those challenges. Their 76.9% success rate was the second-best of any team in the tournament, trailing only Missouri.
The caveat to this success rate is that catcher Karson Bowen was 9-for-10 on challenges, and he has graduated and won’t be back for 2027. But given the nature of the college baseball strike zone, combined with new pitching coach Rich Dorman, there will be plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the new system.
The strike zone in college baseball is a tad larger than the one in MLB. We’ve seen plenty of strikes in MLB this year where the ball just nicked the zone, which leads catchers to sometimes challenge in hopes of catching it.
Based on how the zone was calibrated for the SEC Tournament, and the fact that teams got three challenges instead of two, it basically meant that if you were anywhere near the zone and your catcher challenged, the odds of it being a strike were pretty good. So, entering 2027, the prospect of Aidan King just needing to be anywhere near the strike zone to get a strike should be terrifying for opposing hitters.
Florida will enter the 2027 season looking to atone for its postseason collapse this past season. Florida won its first two games in Regionals, only for the pitching to fall apart in back-to-back losses to Troy. That led to sweeping staff changes, including Dorman and the addition of Todd Butler as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator. Dorman comes to Florida from Oregon State, while Butler was part of the national championship Oklahoma squad.
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