PHOENIX –– When it comes to the new ball-strike challenge system being implemented in Major League Baseball this year,Dodgers manager Dave Robertsdoesn’t yet have any hard-and-fast rules for his players.
But on Friday, he offered a few general guidelines.
“I think right now, I feel comfortable with the catchers doing the challenges versus the pitchers,” Roberts said on the eve of the Dodgers’ Cactus League opener –– in which they will get to test the new automated ball-strike system (ABS for short) for the first time.
And what if a pitcher decides to challenge a call?
“He’d better be right,” Roberts said, laughing.
Such is the new dynamic players will face with the advent of ABS. Starting this year, the automated reviews will give each team the opportunity to challenge at least two ball-strike calls per game. And unlike normal manager challenges on all other types of play, an ABS review can only be initiated by a hitter, catcher or pitcher –– who may do so by tapping their head within two seconds of each pitch.
Once a team loses two challenges, its players won’t be able to dispute any further calls in a game (unless there are extra innings, in which case teams will be awarded another challenge opportunity).
“I think it’s good that we’re practicing it in spring,” Roberts said. “We’re having conversations about leverage and how to use it to our advantage.”
The ABS system, which relies on Hawk-Eye ball tracking cameras within ballparks to determine whether a pitch was in the strike zone, has been a long time coming.
Since 2022, it has been tested in the minor leagues, where players and teams came to prefer having a limited number of challenges per game over allowing the system to make every pitch call, no matter what.
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