NEW YORK — Catchers were far more successful than batters through Major League Baseball's first full week of challenges to robot umpires, led by the Detroit Tigers and David Dingler.
The overall success rate in the Automated Ball-Strike System was 55.2 per cent (299 of 542), with fielding teams winning 59.7 per cent of challenges (175 of 293), including 60.4 per cent by catchers (169 of 280).
“I like it a little more. I was pretty staunch against it, which I still may be to some degree,” New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
There were just 13 challenges by pitchers, who won six. Batters were successful on 49.8 per cent (124 of 249).
“I think it’s fun. It’s its own game inside the game, almost," Tampa Bay catcher Hunter Feduccia said.
Success rate was up from 49.5 per cent last year at triple-A, where defence won 53.7 per cent and batters 49.5 per cent.
Detroit won the highest percentage of calls at 75 per cent (15 of 20) while Arizona was at 71 per cent, and Baltimore and Cincinnati both 67 per cent.
Minnesota called for the most challenges with 32, winning 20 for a 63 per cent success rate. Texas had the fewest, winning 4 of 10.
Cleveland was the least successful at 32 per cent, with Washington at 38 per cent and St. Louis and Texas at 40 per cent.
Detroit catchers were 8-0, with seven wins by Dingler.
ABS' impact could be seen when Atlanta played at Arizona last Thursday. The Braves were ahead 2-1 when the Diamondbacks' Ryne Nelson threw a 3-2 curveball on the upper, outside corner to Ozzie Albies that was called a strike by Malachi Moore. Albies challenged and headed toward first even before ABS showed the pitch missed the strike zone by 1.1 inches. The walk started an eight-run rally in a 17-2 romp.
“In some of these games, it’s had a more of a swinging effect on outcomes of at-bats and how things change than maybe even you thought,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said.
Logan O’Hoppe of the Los Angeles Angels had the most victories, successful on 10 of 12. The Marlins’ Agustín Ramírez won 7 of 9 and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Will Smith 8 of 11.
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh won 4 of 9 and the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers 3 of 9.
Among batters, Mark Vientos of the New York Mets and Iván Herrera both went 3-0. Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels was 3-1, along with Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber and Tampa Bay's Jake Fraley.
Colorado's Hunter Goodman and Washington's Luis García Jr. were both 0 for 3.
Boone said the Yankees staff and players review daily challenges made and opportunities missed.
Players are still getting used to ABS. Washington's Jorbit Vivas tapped his helmet, signalling for an appeal on March 31 when the Nationals already had exhausted their two challenges.
Among umpires, Mike Estabrook had 11 of 12 calls overturned (91.7 per cent), Andy Fletcher had 15 of 17 (88.2 per cent), Ron Kulpa and Paul Clemons each had 7 of 9 (77.8 per cent), and Chris Segal had 10 of 13 (76.9 per cent), according to taptochallenge.com.
Will Little had just 1 of 10 calls reversed, while Erich Bacchus was perfect with no overturned calls in five challenges. Others with low overturn rates with at least five challenges included Emil Jiménez (1 of 5), Jordan Baker (2 of 8), Ryan Additon and Nick Mahrley (both 2 of 7) and David Rackley (3 of 10).
Offence at record low
Offence again lagged through the first 139 games of the 2,430-game season.
The .234 big league batting average is down from .239 through the first full week last year, when it finished at .245. The average usually increases as the weather warms. The full-season low of .237 was set in 1968.
Fastball velocity at record high
Average fastball velocity is 94.6 m.p.h., up from 94.1 m.p.h. through the first full week last year. The final figure increased in each of the last five seasons to a record 94.5 m.p.h. in 2025. It was 91.9 m.p.h. when MLB first started tracking in 2008.
“I wish I was facing the same pitching as I did my rookie year back when guys were throwing 88-mile-an-hour sinkers over the plate," said 33-year-old Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges. “That pitch doesn’t exist anymore.”
Game time
The average time of a nine-inning game is 2 hours, 43 minutes, up from 2:37 at this point last year, when it finished at 2:38.
Pitch clock violations averaged 0.17 per game, down from 0.22 through 139 games last year.
Attendance
MLB's average crowd of 31,725 through 138 dates was up 1.5 per cent over 31,255 for the same period last year.
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