Since the beginning of the year when the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System was implemented on a full-time basis at the major-league level, Don Kelly has been a proponent of granting players freedom to challenge when necessary. If they’re convicted enough, they have free rein to make a decision. He’s not encouraging players to go about it with a careless attitude, though.
Kelly and his staff are continuing to have conversations about how the team should collectively approach the strategy. He knows there are going to be times where a ball barely clips or misses the zone. But he also wants to stress the importance of understanding the situations in which challenges are more necessary than others.
“I feel like we've had a few this year that maybe have been egregious where it was whole ball in the zone or so far off you sit there and wonder maybe if we should have challenged in that moment, and there's been a lot that barely clip the strike zone and an eighth of an inch seam is catching the black and those are the ones that are so close that we want our guys to feel comfortable in the right situations,” Kelly said. “Now, nobody on, early in the game, early in the count, we do not want to be challenging those ones. If we have runners on base and it's a situation where it could flip the at-bat, we do want them to. If they're convicted, go."
Guys like Nick Gonzales are in favor of Kelly’s approach. He understands that controlled aggression is needed, though.
“Obviously if it starts to kind of show that you maybe have a history of being off by a large margin, then we'll kind of tone it down, specific to that player or whatever it may be,” said Gonzales, who has won two of seven challenge attempts this season. “But when people miss it by 0.1 or whatever it may be and it's not the end of the world, that's a good call, good challenge.”
Regardless of the approach, the Pirates have collectively been the least successful team in Major League Baseball in terms of challenging calls, entering this weekend’s series against the Marlins with a 41% success rate. They are one of only seven teams in MLB with a success rate below 50%.
When it comes to position players who challenge the most, Bryan Reynolds and Marcell Ozuna are at the top of the list with 14 apiece. Reynolds has been successful a team-high eight times with Ozuna having six successful challenges. Ryan O’Hearn has been successful at a 56% rate, going 5 for 9. He lost his fourth challenge of the year in Thursday’s series finale against the Dodgers.
There’s obviously more to be desired based on that 41% collective figure, which includes a 38% success rate by batters and a 46% rate by pitchers and catchers. But Kelly thinks improvement will come with time.
“As they go, the only way they're going to learn is go for it, use it and when you're in the moment to challenge and again, like I said, the ones we're looking out for are egregious, with the full ball in the zone, or three inches off where you're not going to fool the computer on it and be able to get a strike called on a ball that's way outside,” Kelly said. “I think the umpires have shown how good they really are because they're getting these calls. It’s a battle over a tenth of an inch."
Spencer Horwitz, who is 1 for 7 with challenges this season, said information is constantly being shared to help players find more success with the system. They’re looking at umpire zones and looking at their own zones to see where above average strikes are called. It’s different for each hitter, but finding good places to challenge and determining which situations are best to challenge in helps.
"I think for me personally, it's leaning more into less of the coaching staff and more into the analytic department, the guys that can look into the deep dive of where pitches are being called, what pitches are being called where, and just getting really specific for each hitter,” Horwitz said. “That’s how I've been using it, but in terms of like team approach and just how to get more comfortable with the ABS, I think that's just word of mouth, similar to talking about the opposing pitcher we're facing.”
Horwitz said he’s had a few instances where he’s regretted not challenging a pitch. It happened to him just recently in Atlanta where he felt like a pitch was a ball, but he wasn’t sure if he should pull the trigger on a challenge since the situation didn’t really call for it. There were two outs in the inning and nobody was on, so he didn’t want to risk wasting one. There was also a situation in Houston where he thought a pitch was a ball, but it was actually a strike. Most of the challenges he’s lost this year have been on balls that he thought were low but caught the bottom portion of the zone. So even a player with a rather strong knowledge of the zone, and one who has experienced using the ABS system since his time in the minors in 2023, has to continue to evolve with it.
“It's like, ‘maybe I don't challenge low, maybe I challenge up now,’” Horwitz said. “Just kind of stuff like that. You just learn as you go. … I try to save it for situations because I think I have a pretty good understanding of the strike zone. Obviously I've lost, so it's not the best, but I think saving them for those high-pressure situations with runners in scoring position or late in the game is more important."
THE ASYLUM
Pirates seek improvement with ABS system
Since the beginning of the year when the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System was implemented on a full-time basis at the major-league level, Don Kelly has been a proponent of granting players freedom to challenge when necessary. If they’re convicted enough, they have free rein to make a decision. He’s not encouraging players to go about it with a careless attitude, though.
Kelly and his staff are continuing to have conversations about how the team should collectively approach the strategy. He knows there are going to be times where a ball barely clips or misses the zone. But he also wants to stress the importance of understanding the situations in which challenges are more necessary than others.
“I feel like we've had a few this year that maybe have been egregious where it was whole ball in the zone or so far off you sit there and wonder maybe if we should have challenged in that moment, and there's been a lot that barely clip the strike zone and an eighth of an inch seam is catching the black and those are the ones that are so close that we want our guys to feel comfortable in the right situations,” Kelly said. “Now, nobody on, early in the game, early in the count, we do not want to be challenging those ones. If we have runners on base and it's a situation where it could flip the at-bat, we do want them to. If they're convicted, go."
Guys like Nick Gonzales are in favor of Kelly’s approach. He understands that controlled aggression is needed, though.
“Obviously if it starts to kind of show that you maybe have a history of being off by a large margin, then we'll kind of tone it down, specific to that player or whatever it may be,” said Gonzales, who has won two of seven challenge attempts this season. “But when people miss it by 0.1 or whatever it may be and it's not the end of the world, that's a good call, good challenge.”
Regardless of the approach, the Pirates have collectively been the least successful team in Major League Baseball in terms of challenging calls, entering this weekend’s series against the Marlins with a 41% success rate. They are one of only seven teams in MLB with a success rate below 50%.
When it comes to position players who challenge the most, Bryan Reynolds and Marcell Ozuna are at the top of the list with 14 apiece. Reynolds has been successful a team-high eight times with Ozuna having six successful challenges. Ryan O’Hearn has been successful at a 56% rate, going 5 for 9. He lost his fourth challenge of the year in Thursday’s series finale against the Dodgers.
There’s obviously more to be desired based on that 41% collective figure, which includes a 38% success rate by batters and a 46% rate by pitchers and catchers. But Kelly thinks improvement will come with time.
“As they go, the only way they're going to learn is go for it, use it and when you're in the moment to challenge and again, like I said, the ones we're looking out for are egregious, with the full ball in the zone, or three inches off where you're not going to fool the computer on it and be able to get a strike called on a ball that's way outside,” Kelly said. “I think the umpires have shown how good they really are because they're getting these calls. It’s a battle over a tenth of an inch."
Spencer Horwitz, who is 1 for 7 with challenges this season, said information is constantly being shared to help players find more success with the system. They’re looking at umpire zones and looking at their own zones to see where above average strikes are called. It’s different for each hitter, but finding good places to challenge and determining which situations are best to challenge in helps.
"I think for me personally, it's leaning more into less of the coaching staff and more into the analytic department, the guys that can look into the deep dive of where pitches are being called, what pitches are being called where, and just getting really specific for each hitter,” Horwitz said. “That’s how I've been using it, but in terms of like team approach and just how to get more comfortable with the ABS, I think that's just word of mouth, similar to talking about the opposing pitcher we're facing.”
Horwitz said he’s had a few instances where he’s regretted not challenging a pitch. It happened to him just recently in Atlanta where he felt like a pitch was a ball, but he wasn’t sure if he should pull the trigger on a challenge since the situation didn’t really call for it. There were two outs in the inning and nobody was on, so he didn’t want to risk wasting one. There was also a situation in Houston where he thought a pitch was a ball, but it was actually a strike. Most of the challenges he’s lost this year have been on balls that he thought were low but caught the bottom portion of the zone. So even a player with a rather strong knowledge of the zone, and one who has experienced using the ABS system since his time in the minors in 2023, has to continue to evolve with it.
“It's like, ‘maybe I don't challenge low, maybe I challenge up now,’” Horwitz said. “Just kind of stuff like that. You just learn as you go. … I try to save it for situations because I think I have a pretty good understanding of the strike zone. Obviously I've lost, so it's not the best, but I think saving them for those high-pressure situations with runners in scoring position or late in the game is more important."
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