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Dean Kremer is the only Orioles pitcher to challenge a ball called during spring training. The club considers that the catcher\u2019s responsibility. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\nSARASOTA, Fla. \u2014 In hindsight, Blaze Alexander would not have tapped his helmet twice during his first-inning plate appearance last week against the St. Louis Cardinals.<\/p>\n
The first one was fine \u2014 he won, after all \u2014 but the second? <\/p>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t want to strike out,\u201d the Orioles infielder said, \u201cso I called it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he lost the automatic ball-strike challenge by a margin larger than 3 inches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not the approach I want, especially not in the first inning,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n
But this is what spring training is for, trial and error. After a month of games with the challenge system in place ahead of full implementation this season, the Orioles\u2019 strategy is beginning to take shape with each tap of the helmet to signal a review.<\/p>\n
First baseman Pete Alonso, who declined to specifically detail the strategy to maintain what he called a tactical advantage, summed it up this way: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be self-aware to realize when to use it and when not to use it, but you relatively want to keep them for those [big] moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenge system shouldn\u2019t monumentally change baseball. Both teams have two challenges per game, and if they win the appeal, they retain that challenge. The idea is to erase the obvious mistakes from a home plate umpire\u2019s ball and strike calls, and those within Baltimore\u2019s clubhouse welcome the addition of the challenge system as a happy medium compared to a full robotic strike zone.<\/p>\n
But with anything new there is a learning curve. And, with limited challenges, Baltimore knows prudence \u2014 not emotion \u2014 must be a central pillar of the tactics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s blatant, then I think that merits it, but if it\u2019s a borderline call, you can\u2019t really risk those or force that,\u201d catcher Adley Rutschman said. \u201cI think there\u2019s definitely a difference between wanting something to be a strike or a ball and knowing it is, and baseball players have a tough time with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
That has led to centuries of wearing out umpires. Now umpires can retort: \u201cWhy don\u2019t you challenge it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect umpires who go, \u2018I thought it was a ball. You can go challenge it. If you don\u2019t want to, then stop asking,\u2019\u201d catcher Sam Huff said.<\/p>\n
Dean Kremer is the only Orioles pitcher to challenge a ball called during spring training. The club considers that the catcher\u2019s responsibility. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\n
The early results of the challenge system, through Sunday morning, show the Orioles as one of the better challenge teams. Before Sunday night\u2019s game, Baltimore\u2019s hitters successfully overturned a strike call into a ball on nine of their 18 challenges \u2014 a 50% rate that was tied for the sixth best in spring training, according to Statcast data.<\/p>\n
The Orioles\u2019 pitchers and catchers have been more cautious. Their 15 challenges, attempting to turn balls into strikes, were the fewest of any defending team this spring. They\u2019ve won seven appeals, which is the second fewest out of 30 teams, and their 47% win percentage on challenges as a pitcher-catcher battery was tied for the fourth lowest.<\/p>\n
The best challenge teams so far are the Seattle Mariners on defense (73% win rate) and the Philadelphia Phillies on offense (59% overturn rate). Overall, the New York Yankees\u2019 37 overturns combined on offense and defense are the most (and Baltimore\u2019s 16 the fifth fewest).<\/p>\n
The situations and tactics are evident. When on defense, the Orioles are mostly leaving challenges up to the catchers. There is good reason for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it was up to me, I would have challenged probably six today and got a lot of them wrong,\u201d right-hander Chris Bassitt said last month.<\/p>\n
Left-hander Cade Povich held a similarly honest self-assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cShoot, if we had unlimited challenges, I would\u2019ve challenged a lot yesterday and probably would\u2019ve lost a few and won a few,\u201d Povich said last week. \u201cI don\u2019t think a pitcher\u2019s emotion really helps the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the issue, Bassitt said, is how much movement a pitcher\u2019s motion involves. They don\u2019t have a clear view of where the pitch lands. The catcher, meanwhile, should have a better understanding of the strike zone and a clear view of where the pitch crosses the plate.<\/p>\n
When Povich reached Triple-A for the first time in 2023 \u2014 the challenge system arrived there first before its implementation into the majors \u2014 then-pitching coach Justin Ramsey made it clear the challenge system would be a catcher\u2019s duty. <\/p>\n
That seems to be the case still, even at the MLB level. This spring, right-hander Dean Kremer is the only Orioles pitcher to challenge a call (he lost the appeal). Rutschman and catcher Silas Ardoin have won each of their two challenges, while catcher Samuel Basallo has a 1-for-4 success rate.<\/p>\n
For both offense and defense, there\u2019s encouragement to save the challenges for critical situations rather than burning one as the leadoff batter in the first inning, as Alexander did last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn certain counts, certain moments, are you being selfish?\u201d said Alexander, who leads Orioles batters with four challenges, of which he has won three. \u201cThe spots you want to use it are with guys on base, bases loaded. An opportunity when I can drive in runs, if it\u2019s, \u2018Hey, I think I got screwed on that call,\u2019 use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
There could be an additional benefit to saving at least one of the challenges for late in the game. Huff, who has experienced the challenge system during his ample time in Triple-A the last few years, said a remaining challenge keeps an umpire honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are umpires that, when there are no challenges, you could tell he was calling more,\u201d Huff said. \u201cI would catch a ball two balls off [the plate], and he would call them, and I would be like, \u2018Bro, just stick to your zone.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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Orioles catcher Sam Huff has had ample experience with the challenge system in Triple-A. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\n
Still, the days of an egregiously poor call from an umpire appear to be gone, so long as a team retains challenges. A well-timed challenge can flip the course of an inning and change a game.<\/p>\n
The Orioles just need to be smart about when to tap their helmets, so they can make the most of the technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to fix the ones that miss .0000-whatever,\u201d Alonso said. \u201cThe ones we\u2019re trying to fix are the balls that aren\u2019t balls and the strikes that aren\u2019t strikes. I think it\u2019s really good for the game to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SARASOTA, Fla. \u2014 In hindsight, Blaze Alexander would not have tapped his helmet twice during his first-inning plate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,182,4635,4,12212,125,35999,64,151],"class_list":["post-626404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-florida","tag-grapefruit-league","tag-mlb","tag-os","tag-orioles","tag-pitt","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-spring-training"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116238865697139119","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626404","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=626404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}