NEW YORK (AP) — Robot umpires overturned 54% of challenged calls in the first season of the Automated Ball-Strike System, and catchers were far more successful than batters.
asserted
catchers → overturn → batters
Learning when to challenge is key.
asserted
Learning → learn → ?
The Cincinnati Reds had a net gain of 16.8 runs, according to Baseball Savant calculations of total run value of overturns on challenges.
uncertain
Reds → have → challenges
The Los Angeles Angels were next at 14, followed by the Athletics (12.3) and Minnesota (10.1).
asserted
Angels → follow → Athletics
Cleveland was 30th at minus-13.4 and several other playoff teams rated poorly by that metric: the Los Angeles Dodgers (26th, -8.5), Tampa Bay (25th, -7.8), the Chicago Cubs (21st, -4.6), Milwaukee (20th, -2.4), Atlanta (18th, -2.1), San Diego (17th, -1.9), the New York Yankees (16th, -2.1) and Houston (15th, -0.8).
asserted
teams → rat → metric
Houston’s Jose Altuve topped batters with 5.6 projected runs gained, followed by Seattle’s Cal Raleigh (4.6), Colorado’s Kyle Karros (4.5) and Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart (4.4) and JJ Bleday (4.1).
asserted
Altuve → top → Raleigh
The Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki led with 5.7 runs projected lost in defensive challenges, just ahead of the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (5.5), the Cubs’ Ian Happ (5.2) and Michael Busch (5.1), and the New York Mets’ Brett Baty (3.5).
asserted
Suzuki → lead → Ohtani
Milwaukee’s William Contreras led catchers with 5.2 projected runs prevented, just in front of Cleveland’s Patrick Bailey (5.1), the Mets’ Francisco Alvarez (4.5) and San Diego’s Freddy Fermin, Kansas City’s Carter Jensen and Drew Romo of the Chicago White Sox (all 4.3).
asserted
all → lead → Sox
“It’s like a new muscle for players to learn,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
asserted
Boone → ’ → muscle
“You have instincts over what to do in certain situations.
asserted
You → have → situations
This is a new instinct of knowing when to challenge and instinctively within a second, oh, that’s a ball.
asserted
that → know → second
What’s the situation?”
asserted
situation → ’ → ?
There were 10,557 challenges, an average of 4.35 per game, and 5,686 led to overturned decisions.
asserted
5,686 → be → decisions
Catchers succeeded on 59% of their challenges, while batters had a 49% success rate and pitchers — who seldom challenged compared to catchers and batters — were at 40%.
asserted
who → succeed → %
“ABS has really impacted the game,” Houston manager Joe Espada said.
asserted
Espada → impact → game
“It has really changed how more selective some of these lineups are, how more disciplined they are, how we force pitchers to be more aggressive in the zone more than in the past.”
asserted
we → change → past
Contreras, Realmuto stand out among players
Contreras led all catchers with 185 challenges, and he also won the most with 105 (57%).
asserted
he → stand → 105
Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto had the highest success rate among catchers with at least 75 challenges at 81%.
asserted
Realmuto → have → %
He was followed by the Cubs’ Carson Kelly (69%), Cincinnati’s Tyler Stephenson and Colorado’s Hunter Goodman (68% each), and Detroit’s Dillon Dingler (66%).
asserted
He → follow → Kelly
Realmuto added the first game-ending ABS challenge in postseason history this week, successfully flipping a call to end Game 2 of the Phillies’ NL Wild Card Series against Atlanta.
asserted
Realmuto → add → Atlanta
Stewart led batter challenges with 51 appeals and won 28 (55%).
asserted
Stewart → lead → 28
Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper was next with 47, winning 21 (45%).
asserted
Harper → win → 21
On success rate, Arizona’s Gabriel Moreno (68%) led batters with 20 or more challenges, followed by Miami’s Esteury Ruiz (65%), Raleigh (64%), Minnesota’s Josh Bell and San Francisco’s Bryce Eldridge (62% each).
asserted
Moreno → lead → Ruiz
Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz had 686 plate appearances without attempting a challenge, by far the most in the majors by a batter, ahead of Toronto’s Nathan Lukes (450).
asserted
Díaz → have → Lukes
Díaz has said he’d consider challenging a call in the World Series.
asserted
he → say → Series
Cincinnati’s 62% success rate led MLB, followed by the Athletics and Arizona (60% each), the Cubs (59%), Texas (58%), Detroit and Philadelphia (57% each) and Miami (56%).
asserted
rate → lead → Athletics
Pittsburgh was least successful at 47%, with the White Sox and Cleveland at 49% each, and Baltimore and San Diego at 50%.
“We’ll keep tweaking it, keep talking about it every day and keep trying to remind the players when we have challenges, when we don’t, when’s a good time, when’s not a good time,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said.
asserted
Stammen → keep → challenges
Players were more aggressive with ABS challenges in late innings
Knowing teams lose their right to challenge after two incorrect appeals, players used ABS less often early in games.
asserted
players → know → games
There were more challenges in the ninth than any other inning — sometimes because teams knew there would be no later innings to save them for — even though many games end without the bottom half.
asserted
games → be → half
ABS was used in 1,366 ninth-inning challenges, with a 40% success rate.
asserted
ABS → use → rate
“Having one in your pocket is kind of — it’s nice to know you have it,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said.
asserted
Mattingly → have → it
Teams also got more aggressive as the season went on.
asserted
season → get → ?
Challenges per game rose from 3.76 in March to 4.60 in August and 4.61 in September, with most of that increase in catcher appeals.
asserted
Challenges → rise → appeals
“You can overthink it if you let yourself,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said.
asserted
Weiss → overthink → yourself
“You start talking about saving it for certain situations, it probably doesn’t end well.
asserted
it → start → situations
My message was the lower the leverage, the more certainty you have to have.”
asserted
you → have → certainty
Overturn rate for umpires most often behind plate ranged from 42-66%
Andy Fletcher had the highest overturn rate among umpires with more than 100 challenges, getting reversed on 80 of 121 (66.1%), according to taptochallenge.com.
uncertain
Fletcher → range → taptochallenge.com
Rob Drake was next at 64.6%, followed by Cory Blaser (64.1%), Adrian Johnson (64%), Manny Gonzalez (62.5%) and Mike Estabrook (61.7%).
asserted
Drake → follow → Blaser
Jansen Visconti had the lowest overturn rate among those with triple-figure challenges, reversed on 43 of 102 (42.2%).
asserted
Visconti → have → 102
“When it gets overturned by less than a 10th of an inch, they do not like it,” Realmuto said of umpires.
asserted
Realmuto → overturn → umpires
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
