The ABS challenge system opened to mostly positive reviews, but a pair of Mike Trout challenges provided a moment.
The ABS challenge system is being thoroughly evaluated by players, fans and media types, and most of the comments so far have been positive. There have been some surprises, though, especially when it comes to some unintentional comedy and awkward moments.
We’ll start with the Los Angeles Angels and the final game of their four-game set against the Houston Astros. The Angels were down 9-6 in the top of the ninth when center fielder Mike Trout came to the plate with one out and a runner on second, and that was when the strike zone of home plate umpire Brennan Miller suddenly expanded, which often happens on getaway day, especially in a long series.
Trout challenged a pair of blatantly bad calls on back-to-back pitches, earning a walk in a sequence that would have otherwise sent him back to the dugout. The first missed the top of the zone by over two inches, the other by well over an inch. Trout gave Miller a look as he took off his protective gear before he making his way to first, and it was clear he knew exactly what was going on.
Just for reference, Miller is the same umpire who got caught on a hot mic saying "I hope it's a strike" after announcing a challenge to one of his strike calls during a spring training game.
Other ABS moments have been more egregious, with the Milwaukee Brewers leading the way early on. Manager Pat Murphy jokingly said “I wish I had my taser,” while commenting on fans booing to amp up the possibility of a challenge.
On a more serious note, though, the Brewers lost both their challenges when they attempted to use a green card displayed from the dugout in spring training to indicate when a challenge was justified. This isn’t the last attempt we’ll see to signal the possibility of a successful challenge, but subsequent efforts will probably be a lot more subtle than what the Brewers tried.
Finally, there’s the unexpected amount of data that’s quickly being accumulated about bad umpires. A weekend game between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds exposed home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor in a big way, with overturned calls occuring on six of the eight challenges he was faced with in that game.
Bucknor has long been known as one of the worst umpires in baseball, but there’s never really been a way to fire a tenured ump or force one into retirement. Now there is, and it’s a reasonably objective standard.
The other part of this is that teams will also be accumulating data on bad umpires. Most of the focus so far has been on who’s calling for the challenges, with stats rating the success rate of catchers, hitters and pitchers. But analytics are everywhere these days, which means umps like Bucknor will start to face more challenges than the better ones whose stats come up clean with a higher percentage of correct calls.