The Automatic Ball-Strike Challenge System (ABS) has made it's debut in baseball this year. For the first time, players are able to reverse an umpire's decision by simply tapping their helmet. Now, that we are two months into the season, I decided to take a look at the statistics that demonstrate how the Nationals are using this new challenge system:
Nationals Hitters Just Below Average at Challenging
So far this season, Nationals hitters are 21st in baseball in turning called strikes into balls. Overall, they have been successful 44 percent of the time. For comparison, the most efficient team, the Houston Astros, overturn calls 60 percent of the time while the least successful team, the Miluakee Brewers, overturn calls just 32% of the time. The Astros, are having a poor season while the Brewers are having another winning season with a below average payroll, so this does not seem to correlate much with winning.
Nationals Pitchers and Catchers Have Struggled at Reversing Calls
While Nationals hitters have been just below average, on the other side of the ball, the team has been one of the worst teams in the league at reversing umpire decisions. The team is in 28th place for reversing calls on defense. Nationals pitchers and catchers overturn calls just 48 percent of the time, while some of the better teams are successful about 70 percent of the time. For a young Nationals pitching staff, getting every call they can get and being ahead in the count is crucial. Nationals catchers need to make sure they are strategically using their challenges to help their pitchers the best they can.
One of the Best and Worst Challengers in the League
One of the Nationals young stars has been extraordinary at reversing calls while another has been one of least efficient challengers in the league. So far this season, CJ Abrams leads the league in net overturns vs expected with a value of 6.6. Net overturns vs expected is Baseball Savant's measure of how many more or less overturns a player would get when seeing similar pitches compared to an average player. So far this season, Abrams has challenged seven times and has never been wrong.
James Wood, though, has been one of the worst challengers in the league. He has challenged 13 times and has only been correct three times, for a challenges won percentage of just 23 percent. The Nationals need to make sure players that are using the challenges more efficiently, like Abrams, are encouraged to use them more while dissuading players like Wood, that waste them, from using them.
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