Ronald Acuña Jr. has apparently learned the new rules a little too well.
The Atlanta Braves star Acuña went viral on Tuesday for his boneheaded moment while playing in a World Baseball Classic exhibition game. Acuña was at the plate batting for his native Venezuela in the second inning against the Houston Astros at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Fla.
An 0-1 delivery from Astros pitcher Ryan Weiss was called a strike despite seemingly being high. That led to Acuña turning to the home plate umpire and pressing on his helmet to initiate an Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge.
The only problem is that the ABS system is used in MLB games … but not in World Baseball Classic games. Here is the funny video.
Ronald Acuña Jr. tried to challenge a pitch, but in the World Baseball Classic there's no ABSpic.twitter.com/hAyhzxOltm
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 4, 2026
ABS, which has been tested out in the minor leagues since 2022, is finally being implemented in Major League Baseball this year. MLB has started to roll it out during spring training games before the formal debut of ABS during the 2026 regular season and beyond (though they also tried it out during last year’s All-Star Game).
In fairness to Acuña, he was facing an MLB pitcher playing for an MLB team at the time that he attempted to initiate the ABS challenge. But the Astros went on to beat Team Venezuela by a final score of 3-1 on Tuesday, adding some insult to injury for Acuña after his ABS gaffe.
