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.
