How Florida baseball plans to approach SEC Tournament's new ABS challenge system
· Yahoo Sports
The SEC is once again using its baseball conference tournament to test experimental rules.
This year, like in MLB, the conference will use an automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system in every game. Two seasons ago, the tournament unveiled the double first-base which was developed out-of-safety and has since been mandated by the NCAA.
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Florida baseball will have its chance to try the latest experiment on Wednesday, May 20, when the Gators play either Vanderbilt or Kentucky in their SEC tournament opener. The SEC tournament is played in Hoover, Alabama, from May 19 to May 24.
“The game is always evolving and changing, and we've got to evolve and change with the changes,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I think that the more we can mirror the rule book and at the major league level and translate it into our level, I think it'd be beneficial."
Each team will have three challenges. If a challenge is successful, a team retains it; if the original call is confirmed, a team loses it. Notably, each team will receive one additional challenge in extra innings. Only the pitcher, catcher or hitter can initiate a challenge.
“I don't have any objection to them experimenting in Hoover,” O’Sullivan said. “I mean, at some at some point you've got to experiment when you're going to make a change like this. So, I've got no issues."
According to O’Sullivan, he’ll lean on hitting coach Tom Slater, who had spent over 15 years in professional baseball prior to his hiring this fall.
“I'm going to kind of probably lean on Tommy a little bit because they had that pro ball,” O’Sullivan said. “There's got to be some guidelines, you know what I mean? Like, you can't be tapping your helmet in the first inning and third pitch of the game. There's got to be some guidelines that way.”
According to ESPN, the walk rate (9.4%) in MLB has risen this season by 1% over last year’s end-of-season figure. The strike zone has statistically gotten smaller for pitchers, as 47.3% of pitches are in the strike zone, down from 50.6% last season.
"I think it's pretty cool,” said Florida first baseman Landon Stripling on trying ABS in the SEC tournament. “I don't think it'll really change too much as far as approach goes, but yeah, I'm sure we'll talk about it leading into then. I don't know how exactly they're going to want to manage us challenging things, if they want us to save them towards the end of the game, or if they're just going to let us loose and just do whatever we think is right.
“I like how it's been implemented into Major League Baseball. I think it has been beneficial for both pitchers and hitters, and so I like it. I'm curious to see how it's going to work in college, and honestly excited about it, too."
At the same time, the swing rate (46.9%) is down from 47.8% from last year, along with the home run rate, which stands at 2.8% compared to last season’s 3.1%.
Contrary to Stripling, Florida right-hander Cooper Walls was indifferent to the idea of the rule.
“Yeah, I don't really care,” Walls said. “Honestly, I just pitch. I mean, I'm not doing that. I'm not using it. If the catcher wants to use it, great. If the catcher steals a couple of strikes from it, great. I'm not using it."
Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at [email protected] or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: What Florida baseball's Kevin O'Sullivan thinks about the SEC Tournament’s new ABS rules