The San Diego Padres won a majority of their Automated Ball Strike (ABS) challenges in their first series of the year.
ATLANTA, GA – MARCH 27: A general view of the ABS system is seen during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Friday, March 27, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. In the 9th inning of the Padres 3-0 win over the Tigers, home plate umpire Malachi Moore called a slider from Mason Miller a ball.
San Diego catcher Freddy Fermin immediately tapped the top of his helmet, signaling a challenge. Within seconds the digital scoreboard at Petco Park lit up with a graphic showing the pitch indeed was a strike, eliciting a massive response from the 44,368 fans in attendance. Instead of a 1-1 count it was 0-2. On the very next pitch, Miller struck out Kevin McGonigle with a wicked slider.Welcome to the world of ABS, the Automated Ball Strike challenge system that made its Major League debut in ballparks around the country over the weekend. The Padres used it sparingly but successfully. They challenged six pitches and were correct on four of them for a 67% overturn rate, well above the league average of 54%. It’s a small sample size but so far, the Friars are digging the rule change. "I think we saw some momentum changes over the last few days with the ABS that got the crowd excited and, you know, maybe turned momentum for a pitcher or for a hitter," says Padres manager Craig Stammen. It cannot be overstated that this is a MASSIVE change in the game. For baseball lifers, the ability to challenge balls and strikes openly is almost taboo. For years,gave umpires the ability to immediately eject any player or coach who argued judgement calls like balls and strikes. That's why, in the 7th inning on Saturday night, Padres 2nd baseman Jake Cronenworth successfully challenged a strike call but was anything but comfortable in doing it.Stammen, a first-year manager who spent more than a decade in the big leagues as a pitcher and took issue with more than a few umpire calls, sees things from both the traditional and contemporary point of view. "I'm kind of more the old school way of doing things, like, just play baseball. But, I think these new things get the younger fans, the younger generation, excited about our sport and I think that's a good thing," says Stammen. One of the reasons it works is it's tailored to every individual player. During Spring Training everyone on the 40-man roster of every team was measured multiple times to get their proper official height . MLB set the top of the strike zone to 53.5% of a player's height while the bottom of the zone sits at 27% of their height. Each batter's template is entered into the ABS system for each at-bat, ensuring 6'7" Aaron Judge and 5'6" Jose Altuve don't have to deal with the same zone dimensions. Of course, this leads to one ABS side effect that some skippers will consider a tough pill to swallow.
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