We’re about two and a half weeks into the Dodgers’ Cactus League schedule, with another roughly two and a half weeks of exhibition games to go. It’s the first year that an automated ball-strike challenge system will be used in real, actual major league games, and thus far the Dodgers have been quite unsuccessful in using their challenges.
The latest example came in the eighth inning on Sunday against the A’s in Mesa. Eliézer Alfonzo while batting challenged a strike call, and the call was upheld upon review.
MLB teams are allowed two ABS challenges per game, and they exhaust those challenges only by losing them. If a team successfully challenges a call and it is overturned, the team retains the same number of challenges it had at that point.
Using challenges in a case study in strategy, with teams using spring training to figure out the best time to use their challenges.
Here are all of their challenges to date.
One interesting trend thus far for the Dodgers is that, of their challenges while batting, five of the 11 have come from catchers, which I guess stands to reason given the position having such an intimate knowledge of the strike zone. To date, Dodgers position players to challenge calls at the plate are Freddie Freeman (unsuccessful), Alex Call (successful), Andy Pages (unsuccessful), Zach Ehrhard (unsuccessful), James Tibbs III (unsuccessful), and Miguel Rojas (successful).
Dodgers catchers have challenged 11 calls and gotten three overturned (27.2 percent), while Los Angeles batters have challenged 11 calls and gotten two overturned (18.2 percent). Through Sunday, MLB batters league-wide have been successful on 46.2 percent of challenges, with pitchers/catchers at 58.1 percent. To date, no Dodgers pitcher has initiated a challenge.
Spring training is for figuring things out for the regular season. And with a little more than two weeks left of practice games, the Dodgers need to get better at using their ABS challenges.