NORFOLK — Coby Mayo thinks he has a winning record. Connor Norby is approaching .500. Jackson Holliday, as far as he knows, has been perfect this season.
In a sport increasingly driven by statistics and oddball metrics, a new number has emerged at the Triple-A level: a player’s ABS challenge percentage.
Starting this week in Triple-A, all games are now governed under the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system. It replaces a hybrid system used at the minors’ highest level since the start of last season.
The difference: Until this week, coinciding with the start of the International League’s second half, the first three games of each six-game series have been played using “robo-umps.” Balls and strikes were called in those games using a series of precise, triangulated cameras, with the calls relayed to the umpires on the field.
In the final three games of each series under the old system, the calls were made on the field by the umpires using the naked eye. Pitchers, catchers and batters, if they disagreed, were able to challenge the call immediately. A video game-like graphic would then appear on the stadium’s video board showing the exact location of the pitch, and the umpires would rule accordingly.
Now, the latter system will be in place for the rest of the season, meaning umpires will make their calls and the players, if so moved, will challenge them. Moving forward in the IL, each team will have just two incorrect challenges per game. Correct challenges are unlimited.
The tweaked system is part of a movement toward using ABS in some form in the major leagues, which isn’t likely to happen before 2026, according to MLB’s commissioner’s office.
But players for the Norfolk Tides, who are a season and a half into using ABS, are all for the challenges.
“I enjoy the system,” said Norby, a second baseman and outfielder who estimates he’s been right on challenges about 40% of the time. “It harnesses in on what we’ve been learning in our time through the system: knowing your zone and everything like that.”
Mayo, a slugging corner infielder, agrees.
“I think it’s good for the guys who know the zone, and I definitely think it’s a step in the right direction,” Mayo said, adding that he’s had “more wins than losses” on challenges. “Sometimes with the ABS, a non-competitive pitch somehow clips the zone or a catcher catches a ball that makes it seem like it’s not a strike and it’s called a strike. I think the challenge is more of a realistic outcome for MLB in the future.”
Norfolk manager Buck Britton, following an organizational philosophy put in place by the parent Baltimore Orioles, encourages his players to challenge calls if they think they’ve been wronged.
Britton said he and his staff have access to individual players’ success rates with challenges, but they tend not to share them in order to maintain their confidence to keep doing it.
The philosophy is rooted in helping each player develop a better understanding of the strike zone.
“We pride ourselves on that,” Britton said. “And the only way you’re going to see if you don’t know it is to challenge and be wrong. And sometimes when you’re wrong, guys get a little uncomfortable. They get a little self-conscious, so they don’t challenge. So we want to free them up. Even if they do make a mistake, we have confidence that, ‘Go ahead and challenge again. We’re behind you.’ ”
When a pitcher, catcher or batter disagrees with a call, he challenges by tapping the top of his head within a couple of seconds of the pitch.
Challenges can’t come from the dugout, where teammates turn their attention to the video board as the challenge plays out within seconds.
A correct challenge elicits cheers from both the home fans and the dugout. Unlike in football, no officials are ducking under a curtain and peering into a replay camera for five minutes as play-by-play announcers vamp; the feedback is instantaneous and exact, much like in tennis.
“It’s fairly quick,” Mayo said. “I think it keeps the pace of play up pretty good. And now it’s only two challenges, so, yeah, I don’t think it’s something that’s going to keep the game going longer than it is, because I know they want to shorten the game a little bit. But I think it’s good for the game.”
Holliday, a 20-year-old middle infielder and the top prospect in the organization, has issued a handful of challenges this season and believes he’s won them all.
Holliday, the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, said he didn’t mind the robo-calls. But keeping the human element alive seems more realistic for future use.
“I think the challenge system has more of a chance to make it to the big leagues because there’s definitely value in having good catchers that are able to steal strikes and really control the game with that,” Holliday said. “I like the challenge system personally. I’ve watched baseball my whole life, and I can definitely think of a few times where guys would’ve definitely challenged balls and strikes. So I think there’s an accountability factor with the challenge.”
Norby, a former East Carolina star who, like Holliday, has had his first stint in the big leagues this season, said he’s spoken with IL umpires who embrace the challenge system to the point that they wish teams had as many as five per game.
“And I agree with them, especially if they plan on implementing it at the big-league level, which I think they absolutely should,” Norby said. “Because it is a good system. It’s fast. It doesn’t take away from the speed of the game, and it gives hitters something back, and even pitchers, right? You’re not in the hands of the umpire all the time.”
David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.
