TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tigers took a relatively laid-back approach to the ABS Challenge System for the first half of Grapefruit League play. It wasn’t that manager A.J. Hinch and his coaches didn’t care; they wanted to see how players handled the option to challenge on their own.
On Friday, Hinch had seen enough to provide some guidance.
“We have not been an aggressive team when it comes to challenges, which is something I was observing just to see how players would naturally react,” Hinch said Friday.
“I think our guys understand that it's all about the strike zone. It's not about emotion. It's not about anything beyond the strike zone. The team that has the best knowledge of the strike zone will be the team that utilizes the ABS Challenge System the best.”
Less than 24 hours later, Tarik Skubal took up Hinch on the offer. In the process, he might have provided a glimpse into how the Tigers will handle MLB’s newest bit of strategy.
Catcher Dillon Dingler was about to throw Skubal the baseball after plate umpire Vic Carapazza ruled Skubal’s 1-2 fastball to the Blue Jays’ Davis Schneider a ball. Skubal, who successfully appealed a pitch during his start in last year’s All-Star Game, thought Saturday’s pitch caught the strike zone.
“I'm like, 'Yeah, that's a strike,'” Skubal said. “I knew it wasn't in, and I knew it wasn't down.
“With the ABS, it seems like the top of the zone is where the question mark is for me. That's what I'm going to have to learn. But I think I have a pretty good grasp of the bottom of it. And then obviously side to side, I feel like I know the strike zone. So in that situation, I didn't think it was either [down nor in].”
So Skubal tapped his head. Dingler stopped his throw.
“[Dingler] thought it was a ball,” Skubal said. “He told me, 'No, no, no.' And I'm like, 'Too late, dude.'”
It was the kind of pitch where fellow Tigers catcher Jake Rogers felt a pitcher might have better insight to challenge. Dingler had set up for a fastball at the top of the zone. Skubal missed his spot badly, but he felt like he still caught the zone.
“I just thought I was pretty convicted in that pitch, and it being a strike,” Skubal said. “It was tough. We were going up, and I missed down. Those are the hard ones to gauge. But from my vantage point, I thought I got it.”
ABS proved him right. The ball caught the corner.
“I didn't envision it being that close of a pitch,” Skubal said. “I thought the full ball was in the zone. It was closer than I thought it was, but I thought it was a strike, and I was right.”
It was the first of Skubal’s seven strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings in Saturday’s 6-1 win at TD Ballpark in Dunedin. It was also the first example of Skubal potentially using the system as another tool against hitters.
“I want to get a feel for it while I'm trying to figure this thing out, while we're in Spring Training,” said Skubal, who used the Triple-A version during his 2023 rehab assignment. “I want to understand it. I think the catchers [do], too. We're all trying to do the same thing, because I think if you can be really good at it and weaponize it to your favor, it's only an advantage.
“If we're constantly putting the pressure on the hitter instead of on the pitcher, umpirewise, it makes them tap their head, not us. And that's just part of the gamesmanship.”
It wasn’t a high-leverage situation in the outcome of the game, but it was a situation where Skubal was confident in his knowledge of the zone.
“Those that have knowledge of the strike zone should utilize it,” Hinch said. “Because there are going to be scenarios that come into play like: Runner's going, catcher's moving, if I take it away from the pitcher, what if that pitch is something that we can challenge? There's going to be an at-bat that's not necessarily somebody hitting in the middle or the top of the order that deserves that opportunity to correct an egregious call.”
Expect the Tigers, particularly Skubal, to delve deeper into it.
“That's just part of the game that I think we can use to our advantage,” Skubal said, “and I know our guys are going to be really good about it and they're going to care a lot about understanding strike zones. …
“I'll probably spend a lot of time on the iPad in game, just trying to see what the strike zone is, so that way the next time I face these guys, my visuals are right.”