SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Cactus League games haven’t even started, but the Royals got their first look at the new Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System on Tuesday.
Surprise Stadium, the Spring Training home of the Royals and Rangers, needed to calibrate the ABS Challenge System in advance of spring games beginning Friday, so the Royals held two live throwing sessions in the stadium instead of on the backfields at their complex.
The pitchers got their work in, while the hitters got their first look at the ABS Challenge System of the spring. While they all used it last Spring Training, they admit it’s a little different this time around, knowing that it will follow them to the Major Leagues once camp breaks for the regular season.
Facing right-handers Steven Zobac and Steven Cruz, there weren’t a ton of challenges from the hitting group consisting of Vinnie Pasquantino, Jonathan India, Michael Massey and Lane Thomas.
Pasquantino was the one who took advantage of it the most, challenging three times and winning two of them.
He countered that the first challenge -- the one he lost -- was just one that he wanted to try at first. It was a curveball that clipped the bottom of the zone, a pitch Pasquantino typically wouldn’t challenge in a game.
“Two for three, but I challenged one as a joke,” he said. “I challenged the first one because I knew it was close. I wanted to see it, because I’ve never done it. We don’t really get opportunities to do that, so I was like, ‘Why not?’”
Pasquantino was more convicted about the other two he challenged. One was a strike call that was low below the zone. He took the pitch, heard the call and tapped his helmet for a challenge. Everyone’s eyes swung up to the scoreboard to see the graphic. Once it showed the pitch came in low, Pasquantino yelled, “Yeah, baby!”
“I know the zone better than I thought I did,” Pasquantino said, laughing.
“It was nice to know, honestly, because sometimes you go through spots with no ABS, where you’re like, ‘Man, do I know the strike zone?’” he continued. “Like, you might just go through a run of bigger zones or something. So it was interesting to do it.”
Massey lost his challenge when he thought a strike call should have been a ball up and outside. The graphic showed that it clipped the zone, though. Massey didn’t take the loss too personally; he followed it up with a line drive to the center-field wall off Zobac.
The Royals are in the midst of meetings about how they’ll strategize using the ABS Challenge System this season. There are all types of particulars to understand, and the team wants a clear plan ahead of Opening Day. The club's research and development team is heavily involved in developing that strategy, as are the coaching staff and player leaders.
“We are going to talk about that a little bit to see who’s going to challenge,” catcher Salvador Perez said Saturday. “Early in the game, if we lose a challenge, we may need it later in the game. It’s like, ‘Should we wait?’ Even if the umpire makes a little mistake, you have to be 100% right to challenge in the first three innings. That’s kind of what I think. But I have to wait for Skip [manager Matt Quatraro] and see what Bobby [Witt Jr.], Vinnie and Maikel [Garcia] think about that.”
The one thing that is clear so far is that the Royals won’t want their pitchers challenging anything.
“No. 1, I don’t think pitchers should challenge any call,” pitching coach Brian Sweeney said Saturday. “Let the guy behind the plate, who has the feel for it, [do it]. I’m sure we’re going to see it over there right away. A pitcher is going to square up the glove, it’ll be a ball, he’ll go like that [tap his hat], and it’ll be a foot off the plate. It’s a process we’re trying to understand and talking to R&D and the guys in the Minor Leagues who have used it before.
“When do we use our challenges? Who calls them? We’re constantly working on our processes of what that looks like. These guys are aware, and Spring Training is going to be great like we had last year to check that out and see where we’re at.”