LAKELAND, FL – Ready or not, the automated ball-strike challenge system – ABS, for short – is coming to MLB in the 2026 season, with every team receiving two challenges per game.
The Detroit Tigers are still figuring out their plan.
Some teams will implement strategies agreed upon by everyone in the clubhouse, others will enforce strict rules that limit certain players and a few might invite chaos without any restrictions.
“We had a meeting about the experience so far – some of the questions, some of the opportunities, some of the missed opportunities,” said manager A.J. Hinch, who held a meeting Friday, March 13, before a spring training game. “We’re just trying to work through what’s the best way to use our challenges. We had a really good discussion about it.”
For now, the message from Hinch is simple.
It’s all about the strike zone.
“The team that has the best knowledge of the strike zone will be the team that utilizes the ABS challenge system the best,” Hinch said. “I just keep challenging them to know the strike zone.”
Teams retain their challenges if successful.
If a game goes into extra innings, any team that begins an inning without a challenge receives one.
Only pitchers, catchers and hitters – without help from coaches or teammates in the dugout – can initiate a challenge, doing so by tapping their hat or helmet within 2 seconds after the umpire calls ball or strike.
The Tigers will allow all eligible players to challenge, unlike some teams that won’t let pitchers challenge.
“Those that have knowledge of the strike zone should utilize it,” Hinch said. “There are going to be scenarios that come into play – runner is going, catcher is moving, and if I take it away from the pitcher, what if that pitch was something we should challenge?”
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The same philosophy applies to hitters.
Hitters such as Gleyber Torres, Spencer Torkelson, Parker Meadows and Colt Keith have shown a strong understanding of the strike zone, while Riley Greene, Wenceel Pérez, Kerry Carpenter and Javier Báez tend to chase pitches out of the zone.
But that doesn’t mean Báez – or anyone else – isn’t allowed to challenge an obvious mistake by the umpire.
“The system is meant to get the egregious ones, and then obviously, there are some borderline ones where you look up and see a fraction of an inch,” Hinch said. “The goal is to make sure that we have a ton of confidence in the decisions that we’re making, and then we take the opportunity.”
In spring training, left-hander Tarik Skubal – the reigning two-time American League Cy Young winner – has been the only Tigers pitcher to use the ABS challenge system, doing so despite initially planning to defer to catchers Dillon Dingler and Jake Rogers.
Expect hitters and catchers to challenge most often.
“Hitters that know where the strike zone is, catchers that are good at both presenting the pitch for the umpire and judging whether it’s a ball or strike,” Hinch said. “Knowledge of the strike zone is key, not who challenges more or less.”
Among the 30 MLB teams, the Tigers have challenged the least in spring training – with a 2.4% challenge rate on offense and a 1.5% challenge rate on defense – as players still ask questions in the dugout and rarely take the initiative in games.
“That’s not by design,” Hinch said. “That’s a little bit by personality.”
Expect the Tigers’ challenge rate on offense and defense to increase, as Hinch encouraged his players in the team meeting before Friday’s game to use the ABS challenge system more often in camp, with less than two weeks before Opening Day.
Both Pérez and Skubal wasted no time, issuing challenges early in games on back-to-back days.
Pérez lost his challenge with three balls, no strikes and two outs in Friday’s second inning, while Skubal won his challenge with one ball, two strikes and one out in Saturday’s first inning.
Pérez’s challenge was emotional.
Skubal’s was methodical.
“You got to know the strike zone in order to even have a philosophy about challenging or not,” Hinch said. “The emotional challenge is going to burn a lot of teams.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: A.J. Hinch sends message to Detroit Tigers about ABS challenge system
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
