This rule change heading into 2026 has a layer of strategy to it that the Reds will be working on all spring and all season.
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“I don’t care if someone messes up in spring,” Reds manager Terry Francona said earlier this spring. “But we’ll try to maybe say, ‘This is what we’re shooting for.’ We can say, that probably wasn’t the ideal time.”
Each team will start the game with two challenges. A team only loses its challenge if the umpire’s call is confirmed. The batter, the pitcher or the catcher — not the manager — can challenge an umpire’s call. Challenges must be made immediately after the umpire’s call, and the signal is tapping your head.
This system has been used for a few years in the minor leagues. Francona has consulted with Triple-A manager Pat Kelly.
“Emotions get involved,” Pat Kelly said. “They learn. I think it’s hardest on pitchers. They think everything is a strike. The way catchers are these days (with framing), by a time the pitcher really gets done with his delivery and focuses, the catcher makes it look like a strike. You really have to emphasize it to your pitchers to trust the catchers and let them do the job.”
The prevent emotional challenges, Francona doesn’t want pitchers using challenges. Different teams will handle that differently, but Francona is drawing a line in the sand.
The other key part of the equation will be making sure you’re using your challenges at the highest-leverage points in the game.
“It’s a learning process,” Kelly said. “Because most of the guys have played under it in A-ball or Triple-A, they have experience. (Francona) has been asking a lot of questions trying to figure out strategy and everything.”
For example, a good time to use a challenge would be with the bases loaded, or in a 3-2 count.
Reds minor league catcher Will Banfield, who used the challenge system last year, said, “We don’t want to leave challenges on the table. It’ll happen where a pitch was actually a strike, they called it a ball and the next pitch the guy hits a double. It’s inevitable in the game. At the end of the day, we trust ourselves, the staff and the work we put in to make the right decision. But that’s going to happen at some point.”
In spring training, the Reds have already seen how challenge strategy can change a game.
There will be moments around MLB where a challenge decision blatantly loses a team a game this year.
“You can say that about any situation,” minor league catcher PJ Higgins said. “You should have thrown this pitch. You should have swung at this pitch. It’s a new aspect of the game. People will say you should have or shouldn’t have. It’s part of the game now. It’s no different than questioning what the manager does or why you didn’t send a guy at first base. It’s just another way of questioning what players and coaches do.”
The Reds will have to learn a lot of this on the fly at the big league level. Right now in spring training, the focus for the catchers and hitters is learning the automated strike zone so they know what pitches they can get away with challenging.
“It’s not a personal (challenge) when you really need a hit,” Francona said. “It’s got to be team-oriented. If you tell a player to only do it when it’s important, when is that? When isn’t it (important)? We’ll try to get a strategy, but it might take a bit. We might have to grow into it a bit. This is new for everybody.”