Why are pitchers reluctant to challenge? One ace shares his stance

Entering play Monday, there had been 932 Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenges across Major League Baseball. Only 21 of them were initiated by a pitcher, and no pitcher had challenged more than once.

Giants ace Logan Webb (no challenges) revealed part of why that’s the case -- at least for him -- on the first episode of his MLB Network Radio show “Logan’s Webb.”

Webb typically has Patrick Bailey, a two-time Gold Glove winner and one of the sport’s best pitch framers, behind the plate as his catcher. He described a two-seamer from a recent start that was supposed to go inside but leaked outside and was called a ball.

“I was like, ‘That’s right down the middle,’” Webb recalled. “And he didn’t challenge it.”

As they started doing when the ABS challenge system was first introduced in Spring Training in 2025, Webb and Bailey went into the dugout and discussed what might have been worth a challenge that didn’t receive one. Webb thought he had a legitimate argument with the two-seamer.

“I think it was like this far off,” Webb said, displaying a fairly sizable distance with his index fingers. “I was like, ‘Man, that’s why I let you [Bailey] do it!’”

“Because, in the moment, you’re emotional about it,” Webb continued. “I think I gave up a run in that at-bat, and I was like, ‘Man, why didn’t you [challenge it]?’”

Bailey has challenged pitches 12 times this year and succeeded just five times -- well below the current league average for fielders at 61%. But his successful challenges have been meaningful, with 1.9 overturns vs. expected in the early going.

“It’s really cool to see how good these guys are. It’s really cool to see how good the umpires are,” Webb said. “It’s an art now to do it and to be able to be really good at it.”