{"id":653341,"date":"2026-03-30T22:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T22:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/653341\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T22:36:15","slug":"white-sox-players-calling-em-like-they-feel-em-under-mlbs-new-abs-challenge-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/653341\/","title":{"rendered":"White Sox players calling \u2018em like they feel \u2018em under MLB\u2019s new ABS challenge system"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2014 The first few games of the ABS era have been a mixed bag for the White Sox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Catcher Edgar Quero hasn\u2019t been shy about questioning umpires under the new Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System implemented this season<\/a>, but Sox hitters are still feeling it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen them less willing to pull the trigger on some challenges,\u201d manager Will Venable said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t get instant feedback on all these pitches on where they\u2019re at, but it seems like we\u2019re seeing less challenges from hitters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only Lenyn Sosa and Tristan Peters called for reviews in Milwaukee. Both lost, and Peters wasn\u2019t particularly close.<\/p>\n

Quero challenged seven calls from behind the plate in the first three games, getting four bad ones overturned. No Sox pitcher initiated a review during their first series.<\/p>\n

So should Venable\u2019s players be quicker to tap their hat or helmet?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re right, yeah,\u201d he laughed. \u201cWe want to make sure we\u2019re challenging the right pitches\u2026 It\u2019s still new for a lot of these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venable didn\u2019t tip his squad\u2019s ABS playbook, but he said \u201ca mid-at-bat challenge is different than a potential strikeout or walk at-bat-ending challenge. There\u2019s different things, different parts of the zone that we\u2019ve talked about, different guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quero said he\u2019ll keep going off his gut.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, [based on] good feelings and\u2026 seeing the ball, where it\u2019s coming from, and knowing the strike zone a little bit better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

Anthony Kay throws a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on March 29.<\/p>\n

Long road back<\/p>\n

Anthony Kay\u2019s start Sunday in Milwaukee marked his first big-league action in two-and-a-half years, coming to the Sox on a two-year, $12 million contract<\/a> after rejuvenating his career with a stint in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just grown so much mentally those couple years in Japan,\u201d the 31-year-old left hander said. \u201cThat\u2019s been a huge difference for me in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t pretty, but Kay turned in the Sox\u2019 best start of their abysmal opening series, giving up two runs on three hits and four walks over 4 \u2154 innings with five strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely got a little emotional walking out to the bullpen before the game,\u201d Kay said. \u201cDefinitely was a little amped up and had to hone that in a little bit. I think I did a good job of settling in after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t exactly the season-opening sensation the Sox have gotten from a certain other Nippon Professional Baseball veteran<\/a> on their roster. But the team are relying on Kay to eat serious innings this year while waiting for a wave of talented arms<\/a> to emerge from Triple-A Charlotte.<\/p>\n

Kay got a preview of his new teammate Munetaka Murakami\u2019s prodigious power while facing him overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised by it,\u201d Kay said of Murakami\u2019s three homers<\/a> in his first three career games. \u201c I know some people are, but I\u2019ve seen it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numbers game<\/p>\n

Before Opening Day, Quero switched his jersey number from the 7 that he debuted with last year to 26, which holds a personal significance as a combination of the birth dates of his mother, his sister and his own, the catcher said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the number Korey Lee wore for the Sox till being designated for assignment at the end of spring training, ending up the odd man out<\/a> when general manager Chris Getz signed the superior pitch framer Reese McGuire.<\/p>\n

Lee cleared waivers and is now wearing 26 at Charlotte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 The first few games of the ABS era have been a mixed bag for the White…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,4,396,2562],"class_list":{"0":"post-653341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-chicagowhitesox","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-white-sox","14":"tag-whitesox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116320520570064828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653341","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=653341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}