If the Saints are any indication, Major League Baseball hit a home run in electing to go to a full-time challenge system on balls and strikes in Triple-A games for the remainder of the season. Starting next Tuesday, the fully automated ball-strike system (ABS) that has been used for half the games will be eliminated. Each team will be allowed two challenges, which is one less than has been available to date.
A successful challenge does not cost a team a challenge. “Everybody loves it,” Saints pitcher Louie Varland said Thursday night at CHS Field prior to the Saints taking an 8-4 lead over Toledo into the eighth inning. “Everybody wants the challenge system instead of half and half with ABS.
“The challenge system is going to make baseball way better. It’s basically a balance of old school and new school, and at the end of the day you want the right calls to be made.” Pitcher Brent Headrick professed his love for the challenge system and said Twins pitchers who have been on rehab assignments with the Saints quickly became fans, too.
“The zone is definitely tighter with the ABS,” Headrick said, “so they weren’t getting calls they usually got in the big leagues. But pitchers love the challenge system; they can’t wait to use it.” While Headrick said the challenge system is fair for hitters and pitchers, he feels there are some pitches — such as a backup slider up in the zone — that could clip the zone and register as a strike.
Veteran utility man Tony .
