Article: Max Scherzer’s Challenge Challenges

[Peter Snow]

Back in his day, umpires were people.

The Blue Jays’ acquisition of Max Scherzer improved their overall pitching depth, and, despite his age, raised expectations for the rotation this year. What no one expected is that he would become a hilarious victim of the automated ball-strike (ABS) system. If you haven’t seen it, Scherzer decided to make his first challenge during an appearance against the Cardinals. Whether you credit the phenomenal framing abilities of Alejandro Kirk, Scherzer’s abundant confidence in his stuff, or just bad luck, this was a poor choice. The pitch was low to the naked eye of the viewer at home, and the ABS confirmed that it was well under the strike zone. The clip started making the rounds, and suddenly Scherzer’s folly was the talk of spring training. It gained enough traction that when Trea Turner faced Scherzer, he decided to troll the Jays starter by calling for a challenge on a pitch right down the middle.

The internet had a good laugh at the situation, and it gives us the chance to discuss another question about the use of the challenge system. Since ABS was introduced to the minor leagues in 2022, teams have adjusted their practices to maximize their successful challenges. It’s common practice across the minors for catchers to make most challenges. While it varies from team to team, the new wisdom is that pitchers don’t get a good sense of when and where the ball crosses the plate, so catchers are better positioned to make the call.  You might also speculate that catchers are a bit less biased about pitch location than pitchers, but there isn’t any hard evidence of that. So maybe Scherzer should leave the challenges alone and just focus on throwing strikes.

And let’s be fair to Scherzer here. It was his first time using the challenge system, Kirk did a very smooth job of pulling that pitch into the strike zone, and calling balls and strikes is hard enough for umpires that the league is considering ABS in the first place. It’s understandable there would be growing pains for the players. Of course, the story doesn’t end with this funny little moment. After losing the first challenge, Scherzer spoke with Jayson Stark of The Athletic and wasn’t shy about his feelings: "I’m a little skeptical on this," Scherzer said. "I get what we’re trying to do here, but I think major league umpires are really good. They’re really good. So what are we actually changing here? We know there are going to be strikes that are changed to balls, and balls that are changed to strikes....So we’re going to basically be even. So are we actually going to improve the game? Are the umpires really that bad? I don’t think so."

You can sympathize with his point here. Umpires are generally very good at their jobs, and without implementing a full robo-zone, you are adding a level of complexity that may not be necessary. The argument that the calls will even out over time is probably true. Now, not all balls and strikes are created equal, and some challenges will be more consequential than others. Indeed, teams will have to make decisions about the optimal time to use their challenges. It won’t be as simple as we’ll get a call today and they’ll get one tomorrow.

ABS has been popular with fans. As players spend more time with it could become just another part of the game, like every other kind of replay challenge. The younger players will be more used to it from their time in Triple A, and the more reluctant vets will adapt or complain until they retire. For Scherzer’s sake, let’s hope he doesn’t need to make another challenge during spring training.

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