BALTIMORE \u2014 If we can extrapolate anything from the Minnesota Twins\u2019 season-opening series, it\u2019s that there will be a feeling out process for baseball\u2019s new challenge system and a wide variety of outcomes to sort through in doing so.<\/p>\n
During those first three regular-season games played with baseball\u2019s new Automated Ball-Strike system, the Twins witnessed an inning end in their favor when a ball was challenged into a strike, saw their own batters yield poor challenge results that put the team in a bind and watched their new manager show he\u2019s willing to fight for them by becoming the first skipper to be ejected in baseball\u2019s new era.<\/p>\n
ABS discussion was prominent in the clubhouse throughout the weekend as players and coaches alike are trying to work out the kinks and adjust to life with technology that can quickly \u2014 and accurately \u2014 shift the momentum of a game.<\/p>\n
Batters are trying to determine when to deploy challenges. Coaching staffs are establishing internal guidelines on who should and shouldn\u2019t be requesting them. And Twins manager Derek Shelton made it crystal clear he needs a better understanding from umpires of how long they\u2019re willing to take before accepting and acknowledging a challenge request.<\/p>\n
Shelton\u2019s blow-up and ejection with two outs in the ninth inning of Sunday\u2019s 8-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles indicated how much the new Twins manager vehemently disagreed with the decision made between plate ump Chris Segal and crew chief Laz Diaz to allow Orioles closer Ryan Helsley to challenge a ball call that altered the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure there will be frustrations,\u201d Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said. \u201cYou saw in the Reds game (Saturday that umpire C.B. Bucknor) looked pretty pissed. But what are you going to do? For the most part, I think umpires are pretty cool with it. It\u2019s part of the game now. I think if the player doesn\u2019t have an ego with it, the umpire won\u2019t. \u2026 It\u2019s a cool new wrinkle. It adds a level of entertainment. But also, you think you got a pitch, you can change (at-bats).\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody with the Twins disputes whether or not Helsley\u2019s 3-2 pitch to Josh Bell was a strike, and thus the second successful challenge of the at-bat by the Orioles. What Shelton questioned was whether the challenge was made in time.<\/p>\n
Replays indicate Helsley stepped off the mound and touched the bill of his cap before briefly hesitating and touching the bill again to indicate he wanted to challenge. But the umpiring crew didn\u2019t seem to acknowledge Helsley immediately, which led to a small delay in the request being processed. Bell was halfway down the line and in full view of the camera when Helsley touched the bill of his cap for a second time.<\/p>\n
The decision set off Shelton, who first walked toward Segal and shook his arm, declaring the call to be late before making a similar argument in the direction of Diaz, who walked in from second base. After noting his irritation several times, Shelton continued to disagree as he walked away from the field and was ejected by Segal, which began a new round of debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think Helsley tapped his cap quick enough,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cMaybe he did, maybe he didn\u2019t. But I didn\u2019t feel he did. I feel like it\u2019s gotta be something within the three seconds, and I didn\u2019t think it was there. But the umpiring crew thought it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another aspect of ABS revealed over the weekend is players adapting their thought process in determining when to challenge.<\/p>\n
Whereas Jeffers and fellow Twins catcher Victor Caratini have carte blanche in asking for reviews from their perch behind home plate, how hitters and pitchers should proceed is still being worked out.<\/p>\n
Bell clearly disputed a strike called by Diaz in his first at-bat on Opening Day that put him down 0-2 in the count. But because he hadn\u2019t seen that particular pitch called yet, Bell elected not to challenge the pitch. However, when a bogus strike was called the next time up, Bell successfully challenged the call.<\/p>\n
Faced with a similar decision, Royce Lewis said uncertainty played into why he elected not to challenge a call on Opening Day, one he would have successfully made if he chose to ask for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard for me,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cI\u2019m timid. I\u2019m not 100 percent sure because I don\u2019t know the full zone yet. I felt like for sure it was a ball. If we had unlimited, I would\u2019ve easily done that but because we have two, I\u2019m letting our pitcher and catcher have them because I think it\u2019s more important defensively to get their strikes. I\u2019d rather sacrifice myself in those situations. It\u2019s got to be very obvious or a bigger situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Matt Wallner found himself in the appropriate situation on Sunday afternoon, his incorrect read cost the Twins in the later innings. Batting with the bases loaded, two outs and the scored tied at 5-5, Wallner challenged a full-count pitch called a strike only for the replay board to show the pitch was well in the strike zone. Combined with Byron Buxton\u2019s earlier decision to incorrectly challenge a call, the Twins suddenly were out of challenges with two innings left.<\/p>\n
Two batters later, Caratini was unable to call for a challenge on a costly pitch. With a man on first and Gunnar Henderson batting, Mick Abel\u2019s 3-1 offering, which was clearly a strike, was called a ball. Henderson walked, and the Orioles rallied to score three runs.<\/p>\n
While they went just 2-for-4 in challenges on Sunday, overall the Twins fared well. They have a 64 percent success rate on an MLB-high 11 challenges issued. Three of four challenges made by the Twins on Thursday went in their favor. The Twins also went 2-for-3 on Saturday, including a game-changing play with two out in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n
Leading by three runs, Jeffers challenged the call that Justin Topa\u2019s 2-2 changeup did not catch the top of the zone. Plate ump Brian O\u2019Nora asked Jeffers if he really thought it was a strike, and before the catcher could answer, the call was overturned and the Twins headed to the dugout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought there might a chance,\u201d Topa said. \u201cI feel like the top kind of fluctuates sometimes. RJ\u2019s very good back there. When he challenged, I was pretty optimistic.\u00a0\u2026 But it\u2019s a little bit of an adjustment because you\u2019re trying to stay as locked in as possible. If you think a pitch is a strike and it\u2019s a ball, it flip flops. You have to stay locked in at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BALTIMORE \u2014 If we can extrapolate anything from the Minnesota Twins\u2019 season-opening series, it\u2019s that there will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,822,60,3190,4,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-656371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-twins","11":"tag-minnesotatwins","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116329009784641044","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656371","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=656371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}