There are all kinds of new stats in MLB this season thanks to the dawn of the ABS challenge system.
And with balls and strikes now able to be overturned, players like New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells can find themselves on new leaderboards.
Wells, in fact, is in first place at challenging balls and strikes as a catcher through the first weekend of the season.
Baseball Savant, which is an official MLB statistical site, has created a stat called “Overturns vs. Expected” for catcher challenges.
Wells has a plus-3.5 in that stat, which ranks first in MLB. Salvador Perez (3.2) is second, and J.T. Realmuto (3.0) is third.
The Yankees’ catcher has gone 3-for-3 on his challenges so far, and two of his successful challenges have turned a non-strikeout into a strikeout.
For those hoping to nerd out on this, Baseball Savant explains how this stat is arrived at:
“Challenge rate is “rate of challenges out of challengeable pitches,” defined as bad outcome non-swings with challenges remaining. (So, called balls against pitchers/catchers; called strikes against batters.) Expected challenges are based on a model that includes pitch location, number of remaining challenges, runners on, and ball/strike/out situation. Using that model, we can compare actual challenges vs. expected challenges and also actual overturns vs. expected overturns, converted into a single outcome.”
MORE: Yankees break franchise record set by 1908 New York Highlanders
Wells hasn’t overused challenges so far, but he’s used them in the right spot, including with potential strikeout leverage in play.
There is still a lot to be learned, and it’s early. But it does seem like Wells has taken to the new challenge (pun intended) quite well.
More MLB news: