{"id":570594,"date":"2026-02-13T17:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/570594\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T17:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:22:15","slug":"how-patrick-bailey-and-buster-posey-are-preparing-for-mlbs-new-challenge-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/570594\/","title":{"rendered":"How Patrick Bailey and Buster Posey are preparing for MLB\u2019s new challenge system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the <\/a>Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the \u201cSection 415″ podcast <\/a>wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2013 Giants catcher Patrick Bailey is the best in the business at framing pitches, and now Major League Baseball is messing with his craft.<\/p>\n

The two-time Gold Glover is perfectly fine with it.<\/p>\n

The automated ball-strike challenge system will be introduced this season, which will lessen the chances of human error by umpires and give teams opportunities to challenge bad calls. Initially, Bailey considered it a major blow to good defensive catchers but now welcomes it and embraces it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are always ways to get an edge,\u201d Bailey said at his Scottsdale Stadium locker before Thursday\u2019s workout. \u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019re working on this spring to see where we can get that edge \u2026 excited about the opportunities coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buster Posey likes it, too. The Giants\u2019 president of baseball operations, considered the best catcher in franchise history during a likely Hall of Fame career, was impressed with how the ABS system was used by Major League Baseball as an experiment in spring training last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be fascinating to see how it plays out,\u201d Posey said. \u201cI liked it. I thought it added something else for the fans to be engaged with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rules are basic.<\/p>\n

Each team gets two challenges per game and can retain a challenge when successful.<\/p>\n

Only a catcher, pitcher, and batter can request a challenge \u2013 no input from teammates or the dugout is allowed \u2013 within a couple of seconds after the pitch.<\/p>\n

To request a challenge, they must tap the top of their helmet or cap.<\/p>\n

Teams get an extra challenge in every extra inning so long as their challenges have been exhausted.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a hitter who knows the zone, that really is a weapon, right?\u201d Posey said. \u201cI mean, think about a 1-1 count flipping to 1-2, and then reversing to 2-1 with a challenge. It\u2019s a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a catcher with elite awareness of the strike zone, it\u2019s a big deal, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely different. I\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be some ebbs and flows to it, but I assume the egregious calls would work their way out of the game, as they should. At the end of the day, I think the 50-50 ball is probably where we have to dominate the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey is exceptional at securing the 50-50 ball (or borderline pitch) as a strike. As an elite framer, he masters the art of pulling a pitch back into the strike zone and convincing the umpire to call a strike. The advanced metrics prove he\u2019s tops in the majors based on his 25 Catcher Framing Runs and 31 Fielding Run Value.<\/p>\n

The calculations for these stats are complex. Suffice it to say Bailey\u2019s premium framing skills set him apart both statistically and to the naked eye.<\/p>\n

Bailey has come around on the ABS system. Last year, he said in an interview with The Standard<\/a> that it \u201ctakes a lot off my plate in a bad way\u201d and \u201cI think you\u2019re going to see a lot of catchers out of baseball with the ABS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, MLB didn\u2019t push through a full ABS scenario with every pitch\u00a0 decided by technology \u2013 robo umps, if you will \u2013 which has been experimented on in the minors. That would have eliminated the umpires\u2019 duties to call balls and strikes.<\/p>\n

The challenge system was implemented instead \u2013 with umpires still calling balls and strikes \u2013 for which Bailey and other players across the game are grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re just trying to get a feel for the strike zone,\u201d Bailey said, \u201ca more defined strike zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the ABS strike zone is a key element. Thursday, MLB staged a presentation for media members at a Scottsdale hotel, run by former Giants pitcher Joe Martinez, now MLB\u2019s VP of on-field strategy. He explained every detail of the incoming ABS system including how the strike zone will be technologically determined.<\/p>\n

The top of a player\u2019s strike zone will be at the point that\u2019s 53.5% of his height. The bottom: the point that\u2019s 27% of his height. The width of the zone is 17 inches, the same size of the plate.<\/p>\n

Naturally it\u2019ll be different for the Giants\u2019 Bryce Eldridge, who\u2019s 6-foot-7, compared with 5-9 teammate Drew Gilbert. Based on the math, Eldridge\u2019s strike zone would be 42 inches at the top and 21 inches at the bottom, a 21-inch zone. Gilbert\u2019s is smaller: 37 inches at the top and 19 inches at the bottom, a zone of 18 inches.<\/p>\n

Hitters\u2019 strike zones (and heights) will be measured during spring training and verified by a third party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely some strategy to it,\u201d said Eldridge, who experienced the ABS system last year in Triple-A. \u201cWe kind of stayed away from it until we knew it would impact the game, maybe later in the game. It depends on the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a heat-of-the-moment thing. You\u2019ve got to make a quick decision. You can\u2019t sit there and think about it. Having Pat Bailey, you\u2019ll probably want to let him use most of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Posey said the front office will more fully examine strategic options during training camp and that assistant general manager Paul Bien and his analytics staff will be heavily involved. Decisions will be made on determining the highest-leverage moments of a game to challenge a call.<\/p>\n

Most likely, Bailey will be given the autonomy to challenge any calls he believes could be reversed, rather than the pitcher, because of his excellent zone awareness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think it\u2019s much easier for the catcher to tell if it\u2019s a ball or a strike,\u201d Posey said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have ongoing conversations, but that\u2019s my lean. I think the best framers in the game are going to force the opposition to make\u00a0 more decisions than if they weren\u2019t good framers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey needs to look at the ABS system from a hitter\u2019s vantage, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing to think about,\u201d Bailey said, \u201cis if you strike out on a pitch, and you challenge it and win, you still have two strikes on you, which means you still have super low expected results. So I\u2019m curious if teams will challenge the two-strike pitches or if it\u2019ll come more in hitter counts where you can really take advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oracle Park and the other 29 facilities will have cameras and Hawk-Eye technology tracking all angles of the pitch with results flashed on the scoreboards and broadcast feeds. Same with spring training parks, except for the Angels\u2019 facility in Tempe, Ariz., which has no replay board.<\/p>\n

One caveat: When a position player pitches, the ABS is shut down. Thankfully.<\/p>\n

The ABS system is yet another rule in a changing game that in recent years adopted a pitch clock, shift ban, pickoff limit, and bigger bases. All led to countless debates at the time, but now they\u2019re simply accepted as part of the game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good bet the ABS system will follow suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree months into the season, I imagine we\u2019re not even really thinking about it much,\u201d Posey said. \u201cThat\u2019s my guess.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,6595,162,4,378,66,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-570594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-buster-posey","10":"tag-giants","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-giants","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","16":"tag-sf","17":"tag-sf-giants","18":"tag-sfgiants","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116064485041434505","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}