Were you excited about the ABS challenge system at the start of the season? Did you think Craig Breslow’s “pitching and defense team” would be taking advantage of a new tool to help them reach the playoffs again? Well, so far challenges aren’t really a Red Sox thing. Whether this was an Alex Cora decision to more or less ignore the new powers of gamesmanship, or whether the Sox simply don’t have a collection of players who are comfortable tapping their helmets is unknown, but the results speak for themselves.
Boston has called for just 28 batter challenges through May 12th, the second lowers total in baseball. The Miami Marlins are at 28 and the San Diego Padres sit at just 26. Meanwhile the Minnesota Twins (56), Los Angeles Angels (49), Baltimore Orioles (48), and Cleveland Guardians (48) lead the pack with the most challenges by their hitters. Granted, these are not the most successful teams at challenges. That would be the Athletics, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, and Houston Astros. Each has won between 56% and 60% of their hitter challenges. And of the high-challenge teams, only the Guardians are above .500 on the year. Boston hitters have won 46% of their challenges, same as the Yankees who have challenged 46 times. The two teams are tied for the 14th highest winning rate by their hitters. Although 19 teams have won at least 45% of their challenges. And 21 teams have won 44%.
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The disparity begins to show when you look at the individual hitters.
Ceddanne Rafaela is the leader of the Boston offense in helmet tapping. For better or worse he’s been one of the bright spots in the offense. And he’s challenged 7 times. Winning just 2. He shares that rate of success with Steven Kwan, Willy Adames, and Jonathan Aranda. Only Gunnar Henderson, with just 1 win, is worse among those with at least 7 challenge attempts.
If you look at Rafaela’s feel of the strike zone, it’s all over the map. The two blue circles were overturned. The 5 black circles were confirmed. Even here there’s some tough luck on the two in the corner on the lower left and the biter on the right that is essentially on the line of the strike zone. But that circle well inside the box? You might remember it from Sunday. It was called and obviously confirmed as a strike. It probably looked low.
It’s tough. The catcher lifts the ball really quick and it looks like his glove moved a long way as he does it.
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Masataka Yoshida (1) and Trevor Story (2) have won all their challenges.
Roman Anthony is 2-for-3.
Willson Contreras (6) and Caleb Durbin (4) have won 50% of theirs.
Wilyer Abreu in the opposite of Roman at 1-for-3.
Let’s look at Masa’s win for comparison. He’s seen a lot of pitches this year and only one made him tap the helmet.
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What’s the saying, juuuuust a bit outside?
Obviously some of this is going to be ingrained in a player. Some is going to be teachable. For the Red Sox, a team needing an offensive boost, maybe it’s time to figure out a more unified strategy. We know Roman and Masa know the zone. We know Willson is a veteran and a former catcher. He may know some tricks to gain a tiny edge here and there. But if the Sox could get back another pitch or two per week, it might be nice. I’m not advocating wasting challenges but if the game is ending and you have both remaining in the 9th inning maybe a little live practice…
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