'If I messed up, I messed up. Challenge it': How the Clippers, Triple-A baseball use challenges
Colin Gay
The Clippers are still learning how to navigate a new era of Triple-A baseball.
Their weekend series against the Iowa Cubs was the team's first opportunity to play in home games in which pitchers, catchers and hitters can challenge an umpire's ball or strike call using the automatic ball/strike system (ABS) that was installed for all Triple-A teams this season.
Clippers catcher Zack Collins considers this "an awesome opportunity," that uses technology to give players a say in a call they previously didn't have.
“You just see so many managers getting thrown out, players arguing,” Collins said. “To be able to just speak your thoughts and challenge … it kind of takes the ego out of the umpire, too, because it’s like, ‘OK, if I messed up, I messed up. Challenge it.’ ”
Here's how the Triple-A challenge system works
Dom Nunez wanted to try and flip the Clippers' momentum.
In the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-run deficit, the Cubs catcher was behind the plate for a pitch to Clippers third baseman Daniel Schneemann. It was ruled a ball. Nunez tapped his ear, issuing a challenge to see if the initial call would be overturned and ruled a strike.
Within seconds, the automatic ball/strike system went into effect, and each player, coach and fan at Huntington Park turned to the scoreboard to see if Nunez's hunch was correct.
“Like everybody turns to the scoreboard and watches it like a play at Wimbledon or something,” Clippers manager Andy Tracy said. “Then they start cheering and they heckle the people that are wrong.”
The umpire's original call was confirmed, as ABS showed the ball had come in above the top of the strike zone. Schneemann turned the lost challenge into a walk, later scoring on a two-run double by Roman Quinn to help secure a 5-1 Clippers win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
Teams now have three challenges of ball or strike calls during each weekend game. Teams retain each correct challenge. Other than losing the challenge, there is no punishment for appealing a ruling that is not subsequently overturned.
Hunter Gaddis, a 2019 Guardians fifth-round draft pick, was the first Clippers starting pitcher to experience the challenge system April 28 against the Indianapolis Indians, something he was not aware of when he was optioned back to Triple-A days before his start.
“It’s nice to have in the back of your head,” Gaddis said. “Human error is going to happen. If the home plate umpire misses a blatant one, it’s nice to have.”
When do the Clippers use their challenges?
One week into the ABS challenge system, Triple-A teams are developing their strategies.
Tracy, for instance, encourages players to use the challenge system only in "high-leverage situations," usually later in games.
No other player or coach except the pitcher, catcher or hitter at the plate is permitted to make a challenge.
And while pitchers have the ability to challenge calls, Tracy prefers for challenges to come from catchers and hitters because pitchers can lose the path of the ball on a violent windup.
Collins is on board with his manager's philosophy.
“Most games that are close are won in the seventh, eighth and ninth,” Collins said. “You want to have the most challenges available obviously then.”
Before Nunez's challenge in the sixth inning, Collins, while batting, tried to have a challenge called on a borderline strike call. But the challenge was denied by the umpire because the challenge call was encouraged by other players in the Clippers' dugout. Collins' at-bat ended in a strikeout.
'I don't think it's really baseball'
While the challenge system is used during weekend games, the electronic strike zone determines calls in weekday games. In other words, instead of having umpires calling balls and strikes in games played Monday through Thursday, an electronic system makes all those rulings.
“I don’t think it’s really baseball,” Collins said. “There’s so much human error and human ways to change the game there.”
As a catcher, Collins feels the system takes away the art of pitch framing: using subtle movements when receiving pitches to present the ball as a strike to an umpire.
On the other hand, Collins appreciates that the ABS system shows everyone what a strike zone should be.
“We did notice when we went from ABS in the first three games to the ABS challenge, umpires were really good,” Collins said. “We didn’t have many challenges, and the ones that were challenges were really, really close.”
Still, not all the Clippers are sure if it's right for the game.
“It’s nice to just have the truth of just if it’s a strike or not,” Gaddis said. “But it feels like you’re taking out a big part of baseball that's been going on for hundreds of years.”
The Clippers will take on the Louisville Bats on a six-game road trip starting Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. The Clippers next game at Huntington Park will be May 16 at 7:05 p.m. against the St. Paul Saints.