SportsTaking stock of MLB’s first season with the ABS Challenge system
Baseball Prospectus reports that appeals had overturned 5,483 ball-strike calls entering the final week of the system’s first MLB season.
TLDR
Baseball Prospectus says MLB’s ABS Challenge system has meant roughly 2.5 fewer “bad” ball-strike calls per game on average in its first season. With the system’s first postseason approaching, the analysis asks whether it has worked as expected, who has gotten better or worse at using it, and what needs fixing.
Taking stock of MLB’s first season with the ABS Challenge system
Baseball Prospectus reports that appeals had overturned 5,483 ball-strike calls entering the final week of the system’s first MLB season.
TLDR
Baseball Prospectus says MLB’s ABS Challenge system has meant roughly 2.5 fewer “bad” ball-strike calls per game on average in its first season. With the system’s first postseason approaching, the analysis asks whether it has worked as expected, who has gotten better or worse at using it, and what needs fixing.
