This story was excerpted from Paul Casella's Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Zack Wheeler plans to leave any decision on whether to challenge a pitch this season to longtime catcher J.T. Realmuto.
Of course, Jesús Luzardo had a similar idea -- and that lasted less than one inning into his first start with the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System.
"They can all say they're not going to challenge," Realmuto said of his pitching staff, "but if there's one they think is obvious, they're going to immediately be tapping their hat to challenge it."
After all, it's a split-second decision made in the heat of the moment, and big league pitchers are a notoriously competitive bunch -- even by professional athlete standards.
With that in mind, the idea of placing any absolute rules on who can or can not challenge a pitch isn't as simple as it sounds.
"We're working through it," manager Rob Thomson said. "There's so much emotion involved that it's going to be tough to tell the pitchers, 'You can't do it.' Even if you tell them they can't do it, at some point -- because of the emotion -- they're probably going to do it."
So, back to Wheeler. ... Is the uber-competitive perennial Cy Young candidate really not going to get caught up in the moment and challenge a pitch even once?
"Maybe. Maybe," Wheeler relented. "Especially if a game is going bad and you're just like, 'Screw this,' and fire one off.
"But I don't plan on it."
Asked if there's a particular pitcher he thinks will be the hardest to rein in, Realmuto thought for a second before giving an answer.
"Maybe Painter?" said Realmuto, referencing Phillies' No. 2 prospect Andrew Painter, who is expected to make the Opening Day rotation after spending last season in Triple-A. "Just because he's dealt with it the most in the Minors, so he might have the most feel for what's actually a ball and a strike from the mound."
Think again.
“I had a really bad one last year," Painter said with a laugh. "It was against the Blue Jays' [affiliate]; it was to Davis Schneider. After that -- it was so far off, it didn’t even show an exact distance -- I’m just going to let J.T. handle all that. I’m just going to leave it up to him.”
For those wondering, the pitch in question was an 0-2 fastball on May 21. Painter adamantly tapped his hat for a challenge thinking he had the strikeout, only for ABS to reveal the ball was comfortably off the plate.
Therein lies the reason most Phillies pitchers won't challenge pitches this season -- or at least don't plan to do so.
Not only is it hard to tell from the mound if a close pitch is truly a strike (especially with a good frame job), but Philadelphia pitchers trust Realmuto to know the strike zone better than anyone -- and for good reason.
Going back to his first full season in 2015, Realmuto has caught an MLB-leading 10,884 2/3 innings. That's 2,650 2/3 more innings -- the equivalent of more than 294 games -- than any other active catcher (Salvador Perez is second at 8,234 innings).
During that time, Realmuto has received 181,723 pitches. That's 43,861 more pitches than any other catcher.
"He's caught a lot of pitches, so he knows the strike zone," Thomson said. "I think he's going to be very good at it."
Realmuto hasn't used the ABS Challenge System as much as some others this spring, but he's passed the test in a limited sample. He's 4-for-4 on challenges, including securing a pair of strikeouts for Luzardo to strand a runner at third base in the first inning of Thursday's outing against the Red Sox.
As for the other two successful challenges, one came on a 2-0 pitch to the first batter of the game on Feb. 25. Two days later, Realmuto challenged the first pitch of a third-inning at-bat with one out and nobody on.
He says the decision to challenge is going to be more of a “feel thing” than having any set guidelines.
"Honestly, every ball matters,” Realmuto said. “If you walk a guy in the second inning and you didn't challenge a 1-0 pitch that you know was in there, and that guy comes around to score, he could end up being the game-winning run."
That said, there is still a strategy. Like many catchers, Realmuto has long perused umpire reports as part of his pregame prep to see if that game's home-plate ump has any particular tendencies.
It will still help to know if there's a specific area or pitch type for which a certain ump is more likely to miss a call, but Realmuto foresees those reports becoming less useful as the season goes on.
"Just like hitters, they're going to make adjustments as they get more reps," Realmuto said.
Realmuto will make his own adjustments along the way. Perhaps his pitchers will, too.
“It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out,” Realmuto said.