With Opening Day less than two weeks away (March 26), the Red Sox are getting the hang of the Automatic Ball-Strike system, which officially became a part of Major League Baseball at the start of spring training.
Teams start each game with two challenges, to be used by the pitcher, catcher, or hitter during their plate appearance. If a player challenges successfully, their team retains the opportunity to do so again. If a team is out of challenges in a game going to extra innings, they are allotted one challenge per inning.
Answering manager Alex Cora’s call to be “very aggressive” in preseason games to gain familiarity with the new tool, Boston batters have challenged 24 times; ironically, tied with their Opening Day hosts, the Cincinnati Reds, for eighth-most in the majors. Red Sox hitters have a 46% success rate (11 for 13) so far.
Red Sox catchers have challenged 27 times, and their 59% success rate is the league median.
Catchers Carlos Narvaez (5 for 7) and Connor Wong (4 for 5) have been successful in defensive challenges. Conversely, no catcher has been challenged more than Narváez; opposing batters are 6 for 12 while he’s behind the dish.
But it’s Willson Contreras who’s been at the ABS forefront. Boston’s new first baseman leads American League hitters with five challenges, and his four wins are tied with Yankees’ Jose Caballero for the most in the majors.
In fact, in the team’s first spring training game on Feb. 21, Contreras became the first player in franchise history to challenge a pitch. Successfully, too. The reaction from his teammates? “Priceless.”
At the time, the catcher-turned-first-baseman said he felt his long career behind the dish would prove beneficial in overturning missed calls.
“It’s different when you’re catching than hitting, but when you’re a first baseman you don’t know the strike zone, the umpire, anything like that,” Contreras said. “You just know your strike zone, you’ve been playing for so many years that you have an idea of what is (a) ball and strike. But it definitely helps, for sure.”
The worst team in the early weeks of the ABS era may come as a shock. It’s been a challenge, no pun intended, for the back-to-back defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Their catchers are 3 for 14 in challenges, a 21% success rate that’s at least 22 points worse than every other club.
Dodgers hitters’ 13 challenges are second-fewest behind the Detroit Tigers (10), but their 15% success rate (2 for 11) also ranks 30th.
Willson Contreras says Red Sox had ‘priceless’ reaction to ABS challenge