What, exactly, is the Brewers strategy for ABS challenges? It's complicated.
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PHOENIX – It was 9:14 a.m. when a herd of nerds emerged from Pat Murphy’s office.
Fit in polos emblazoned with blue-and-gold logos, the group, led by vice president of baseball R&D Andrew Fox, had spent the better part of the past hour devising a teamwide plan for the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system, scratching the corners of their brains to talk through any possible challenge scenario to optimize their strategy.
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How early is too early? Is there a scenario in the first inning where it makes sense? Do you need to save a challenge for the late innings? When is it okay to challenge a first pitch?
The possibilities, as you can imagine, are as vast as the high Arizona sky.
“That,” Murphy offered, “is why I wanted to call in the smart people.”
The Brewers may very well have been the last team to broach the topic with their players.
Prior to the meeting of minds on the sofa and a love seat inside Murphy’s office, ABS challenges were entirely in the hands of the players.
No guidelines. No rules. Just vibes (and helmet taps).
“I just didn't think it was good to present [to players] before we experienced it,” Murphy said.
That changed right before the start of their game March 5 against the Colorado Rockies in Scottsdale, roughly three hours following the conclusion of the morning rendezvous. And we mean right ; leadoff hitter Garrett Mitchell found out three minutes before digging into the box in the top of the first.
The system, fitting given the nebulous space of ABS strategy, was simple yet complex. Two Brewers coaches, Evan Martin on offense and Daniel de Mondesert on defense, would hold a large, green index card up from the dugout railing when it was a green-light challenge spot. When batting, a sign was also relayed from Martin to third base coach Matt Erickson to pass along to the hitter.
“We’ve said nothing to the players,” Murphy said. “Now we’re implementing some things without talking to the players. They’re gonna be like, ‘What are we doing?’ It’s a yes/no as of today. At the game today, it’s going to be yes or no.”
MLB rules don't allow input from the dugout on challenges after a pitch has been thrown, but the Brewers are merely telling players before the pitch whether it's an acceptable helmet-tapping situation or not.
The first green light came in the top of the first inning with Blake Perkins at the plate, a runner on second and facing a 3-2 count against Michael Lorenzen.
Martin attached the Velcro card to an adhesive on the front of the dugout railing – the product of technology manager August Sandri – and gave the tap-your-helmet signal to both hitting coach Eric Theisen and Erickson, who relayed to Perkins. They then did the same one batter later when Luis Rengifo reached a full count.
There was even a bit of a Day 1 communication snafu when catcher Jeferson Quero challenged the third pitch of the game, which drew a few nonplussed reactions from the dugout. Quero won the challenge on a pitch that just clipped the bottom of the zone, but it was a learning lesson for the young backstop.
"You’ve got to make sure," Murphy said of a challenge that early. "If it’s in the heart of the plate, you’re okay. It’s what [Quero] sees. So that’s the problem, is you really have to work at it to make sure you’re good at it."
There are more complications, Murphy added, than he had time to get into, but did shed some light into what some of those nuances might be.
For one, the Brewers expect catchers to have a higher success rate than hitters, so we may see more challenges from the defensive side of the ball. Hitters will likely have a better understanding of balls and strikes on the edges of the plate than they will north and south, which might lead to more inside vs. outside challenges. They also want to make sure they’re not taking any challenges home with them after a game.
“The count is more important than runners on base, and [game] situation is more important than anything,” Murphy said.
The debut of the card system was ABS 101. As spring goes on, and even into the regular season, the Brewers will continue to add and refine until it reaches the point that players have the course down.
That, Murphy says, is an important distinction. For now, the key players are the ones in the front office but, ultimately, it will be in the hands of the actual players.
“It still comes down to the players, which is what I love about the rule,” he said. “It comes down to the players dictating.”
For a team like the Brewers that doesn’t chase much – they led the league in chase rate a year ago – an efficient use of ABS gives them a potential edge.
“I think it’s going to work, especially for us, in our favor,” Mitchell said. “As a team from top to bottom we all know the zone pretty well.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers begin to implement strategy for ABS challenge system