Every zone image, and the pitches plotted on that zone image, will be accurate for the strike zone that was in use at the time of the game. For MLB-level data, that means:
Through 2025 (pre-ABS in MLB): Strike zone measured at front of plate and dependent on batter's stance at the time of the pitch.
Starting in 2026 (ABS zone in MLB): Strike zone measured at midpoint of plate and based on batter's height.
Here are some of the new zone images you'll see:
A zone image with a solid outline means all pitches shown had the exact same strike zone (i.e. a batter's ABS zone, which does not change from pitch to pitch).
The size of these strike zones are scaled to the batter's actual ABS-measured zone.
A zone image with a dashed outline means that pitches with different strike zones are being displayed -- for example, a pitcher who has faced multiple batters, an MLB batter pre-ABS whose exact zone changes from pitch to pitch based on his stance, or an image combining multiple seasons pre- and post-ABS.
These strike zone images show the "average zone" for all the different batters and individual pitches shown in the visual.
For these zone images, pitch locations are adjusted to be true to the batter's strike zone. In other words, if the pitch is in the strike zone for the batter who faced it, it will be displayed inside the strike zone in the image. If the pitch is out of the strike zone for the batter who faced it, it will be displayed as fully outside the strike zone border in the image.
Zone images will look different for batters who have different-sized strike zones -- i.e., Aaron Judge's zone will be larger than Jose Altuve's.
Pitches that touch any part of the border of a strike zone image on Savant are in-zone and would be called a strike if challenged under ABS. Pitches that are outside the border are out-of-zone and would be called a ball.
On Savant Illustrator, there is the option to toggle the strike zone between two views: "Adjusted for Batter Zone" (the default view across the site), and "Actual Pitch Height."
The adjusted zone shows pitches based on their location relative to the strike zone -- a pitch just above the zone to Judge is a lot higher off the ground than a pitch just above the zone to Altuve, but those pitches would appear next to each other in this view. In this view, a pitch in the strike zone will always look like a "strike" in the image, and a pitch out of the strike zone will always look like a "ball" in the image.
The actual pitch height zone view, on the other hand, would display those pitches to Judge and Altuve at different heights, based on their actual height above the ground. In this view only, a pitch that was in the strike zone might look like a "ball" in the image, and a pitch that was out of the zone might look like a "strike" in the image.
