This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos' Athletics Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
MESA, Ariz. -- With nearly a week of Cactus League games in the books, the Athletics have had an opportunity to experience the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System that will be utilized in MLB this season.
Manager Mark Kotsay has had the best seat in the house for every challenge of every game the A’s have played in so far. His early impressions?
“The strike zone is smaller,” Kotsay said. “That’s the biggest takeaway right now. I feel like strikeouts have gone down. Obviously it’s early and that might be a quick assessment.”
Entering Saturday, four batters had challenged strike calls -- Denzel Clarke, Ryan Lasko, Bryan Lavastida and Brent Rooker -- once each this spring. They are 3-for-4 in getting calls overturned, with Rooker the only hitter to lose a challenge thus far.
On the pitching side, Elvis Alvarado, Justin Sterner and Brady Basso had combined to issue four challenges on called balls, with the call getting overturned in three of those four instances.
“Our players tend to err on the timid side when it comes to challenging,” Kotsay said. “I’m continuing to encourage the challenges just to get a feel.”
During the fourth inning of Friday’s 7-6 loss to the Royals at Surprise Stadium, A’s top pitching prospect (per MLB Pipeline) Jamie Arnold fired a 2-2 slider down in the zone to Maikel Garcia that was called a ball and immediately elicited a tap on the helmet by catcher Austin Wynns to signal a challenge. A few seconds later, the scoreboard showed that Arnold’s pitch indeed caught the lower part of the zone, and the call was overturned to a strikeout.
“It’s pretty cool when a guy knows the zone like he does,” Arnold said of Wynns. “It’s a big help back there. I was never going to challenge that call. I was leaving it up to him. He did a great job.”
Kotsay is hopeful that A’s players will get more comfortable with challenging calls as Spring Training goes on.
“The first game, we didn’t use our challenge,” Kotsay said with a laugh. “I have to keep reminding them, ‘Hey, don’t worry about failing here. This is why we’re doing it.’ So that’s been helpful.”
Another important ABS takeaway for the A’s has come in the ability for hitters, pitchers or catchers to pick up a tablet in the dugout at the end of an inning and observe the individualized strike zone for each player.
“One of the things that I think has helped us is coming back in the dugout and looking at the ABS zone on the iPad,” Kotsay said. “That’s the quickest way to learn without actually being penalized in a game situation. I think that’s going to help players immensely understand their zone once the season gets going.”
The more that takes place this spring, the better prepared the A’s will be to try to take advantage of the system once the regular season begins for them on March 27 in Toronto.