How did the Marlins prepare for the new ABS System?

MIAMI -- "Too late! Too late!"

Split-second decisions were being tested on a daily basis at Marlins big league camp to prepare for the latest change to Major League Baseball: the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System.

Players will have the power to appeal the strike-zone judgments of home-plate umpires, with the system monitoring the exact location of each pitch, relative to the specific batter’s zone. Each team starts with two challenges per game and loses one if incorrect.

This spring, Major League clubs came up with their strategies. For the Marlins, only the catcher will challenge calls on defense. During Grapefruit League play, Marlins backstops posted the fifth-best successful overturn percentage (67%).

"I think our catchers did a really nice job," manager Clayton McCullough said. "We gave them far more leeway than the hitters throughout camp. We just feel that going forward, that our catchers, we want them to be very good at this, and so we trained them in the manner that we did. We gave them a lot of leeway and rope to go challenge, and they did a really nice job."

The catching group, led by director Maxx Garrett, created daily training modes and environments for the backstops to practice. Not only did they do so in the cages but also inside Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium using Hawkeye to set up a competitive setting. Garrett tested the group with everything from high-velocity sliders to purposely mislocated pitches.

The Marlins credited the live batting practices and pitch design sessions for helping everyone prepare. It was common to see a group of players and coaches behind a screen checking the monitor to see whether close pitches were strikes or balls. The immediate feedback was beneficial to all.

“We've definitely been doing a lot of stuff,” catcher Liam Hicks said. “I think every team is trying to figure out how to do it now, trying to get better. After every inning, they'll let me know if any of those pitches [should’ve been challenged]. Luckily, we've got some data in the dugout right now, but they'll kind of tell me where the pitches were. So then I have a better idea of the next inning.

“And then also doing a lot of work, especially on those balls a guy's stealing or like a back pick, those are the ones where you really need to pay attention. Also knowing the areas that you struggle with, they're going to likely call more balls. Knowing those ones that they might call a ball, I struggle in that zone catching it. So I might be more likely to challenge those pitches instead.”

While the Marlins took away the catcher’s responsibility of calling pitches toward the end of last season, this new ABS system adds one back. The catcher has to consider whether to challenge, plus be knowledgable of each batter's specific strike zone.

“I think the biggest thing is we just want to get them as many reps of this as we can, and just get them used to an added element of decision-making that they have while they're catching,” Garrett said. “So our goal is to get reps at that and to constantly get good feedback of where the pitch was, because the feedback for everything else is kind of self-implicit.”

When it comes to the Marlins' batters, they must follow set criteria to challenge:

• The count, especially pitches to end an at-bat
• Runners in scoring position
• How many challenges remain?
• Batters with a better eye at the plate will get more leeway

Marlins batters won 11 of 23 challenges (48%), which tied for the 11th-best successful overturn percentage. Catcher Agustín Ramírez went 3-for-3 as a batter.

“When you decide to push in some chips and challenge it, we want those moments to be impactful,” McCullough said. “Even if you don't get it right, it was the correct moment to go for it. So whether it's setting some parameters as a group that we kind of have a default of some times where it makes a lot of sense, while giving ourselves the ability during games to pivot based on maybe how many challenges we have left.”

The one group being left out of the challenge process, pitchers, have no hard feelings.

“We respect it,” veteran right-hander Chris Paddack said. “At the end of the day, the catcher has the best view. He knows what pitch is coming. He's right there over the 17 inches. We're 60 feet, six inches away. And like I said, they make pitches look so good to where, if we were able to take the reins on it, I would probably hit the hat every time. They make it look so good.”