PEORIA, Ariz. -- Cal Raleigh knew he was going to utilize a challenge against the first borderline call he caught on Friday.
And sure enough, that offering came just seven pitches into the Mariners’ Cactus League opener.
With it, Raleigh and the Mariners -- like the rest of Major League Baseball -- were off and running with the new automated ball-strike system set to be permanently implemented this season.
“To me, it's different now than it is in-season,” Raleigh said. “I think in-season, you've got to be smart. You've got to put the team first, obviously, and understand when to do it, get a good opportunity and know where you're at in the game.”
Friday’s sequence illustrated that contrast and dovetailed to how the Mariners are collectively approaching ABS in this beta stage.
The call itself
In a 2-2 count between Mariners non-roster invitee Dane Dunning and the Padres’ Jackson Merrill, a sinker tailed near the top of the strike zone, after which Raleigh tapped his helmet to signal the challenge.
In less than 15 seconds, Dunning had delivered the pitch, Raleigh challenged, home-plate umpire Nic Lentz awaited the call from upstairs and the ruling was on the jumbotron.
The original call, a ball, was confirmed, pushing Merrill into full count and leading to a walk.
The ABS zone will be a two-dimensional plane in the middle of the plate that spans its full width (17 inches, or the width of home plate). The zone's top will be 53.5% of a player's height and the bottom 27%. Pitch location is measured at the midpoint between the front and back of the plate. Any part of the ball only needs to tick the edge of the zone to be a strike.
ABS utilizes measurements of each specific batter, and in Merrill’s case, he’s 6-foot-3. The pitch was 3.61 feet off the ground as it crossed the strike zone.
Moreover, Friday’s location was exactly where Raleigh wants to better assess -- because that’s where catchers, he says, have been most successful at stealing strikes. It’s also an area among the most difficult for hitters to square balls up, and as such, landing strikes along the top rail can lead to more takes, and subsequently, called strikes.
“That's definitely the part that was taken away the most,” Raleigh said. “You're going to see more opportunities down at the bottom.”
Raleigh’s individual prep
Raleigh went 9-for-9 in ABS challenges last spring, when they were rolled out as a soft launch in anticipation of eventual permanence. But he was probably never going to bat 1.000 this spring, given that some of his challenges -- like Friday’s -- are to gauge the zone’s dimensions.
There’s more urgency this year, too, given that Raleigh will soon depart for the World Baseball Classic, where ABS won’t be implemented.
“I kind of just need to know where it's at,” Raleigh said. “And we just want to kind of get a feel for it, hence why I went for it in the first inning and was kind of just guessing. I thought it was a good pitch in a two-strike count. But in the regular season, you probably won't see me challenge something like that, especially at that point of the game.”
That said, Raleigh didn’t go in blind on Friday. During bullpen sessions and live BPs, behind the plate and hitting, he’s regularly checked Trackman data within the Mariners’ revamped facilities on balls and strikes.
“The big thing for me is not necessarily trying to go out there and steal a bunch of strikes from the receiving side of it,” Raleigh said. “But just keep strikes, strikes. It’s going to be understanding the strike zone and it's just going to take reps.”
Team-wide approach to ABS
This is where discipline will be paramount, especially among pitchers.
Each team will have two challenges and can retain them if they're successful. Challenges can be initiated only by a pitcher, catcher or batter, and the request must come immediately after the pitch.
The Mariners have conducted many ABS-specific meetings in Arizona to solidify strategy once games count. And while they haven’t landed on a specific protocol, it's clear they’re leaning toward catchers exclusively making challenges in the regular season.
“It’s going to be tough when I throw a front-hip sinker and don't get it and tap my head,” George Kirby joked.
All of this is a work-in-progress, but that’s what Spring Training is all about.
“I'm sure I'm going to mess a few up,” Raleigh said. “But I feel like catchers definitely have the best viewpoint back there and can be the most objective.”