Will Mariners become more aggressive with ABS challenges?

There’s a new wrinkle in baseball this season with the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System being implemented at the MLB level for the first time.

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So far, it hasn’t gone the Seattle Mariners’ way all that often.

According to Baseball Savant, the Mariners entered play Wednesday with a net of minus-4 on challenge overturns through the first six games of the season, meaning overturned calls have gone the way of their opponents four more times than their own. Seattle had four overturned calls go in its favor while eight had gone in the opponents’ favor, the latter of which was the second-highest mark in the league.

When it comes down to it, the M’s just haven’t used their challenges all that much compared to others.

Seattle’s five challenges while on defense were right around the middle of the pack, but its three challenges from hitters were tied for the least in the league.

The Mariners have made an effort to try to save their challenges for critical moments that often come late in games, which has been the strategy for some but certainly not all teams across the league.

There was perhaps no greater showing of contrasts between approaches to the ABS system than Seattle’s game on Monday against the New York Yankees, who entered Wednesday leading the league with 12 overturned calls in their favor. The Yankees used five challenges Monday while at the plate, all in the first five innings, and had all five calls overturned in their favor. Meanwhile, the M’s didn’t use a challenge for the second time this season.

Ultimately, the Mariners won the game 2-1, but it had Wyman and Bob co-host Bob Stelton and producer Mike Lefko wondering if the Mariners’ could learn something from the way the Yankees used their challenges.

“I don’t like it going against the Mariners, but I just love that you have that opportunity,” Stelton said. “There were cases where I saw the Mariners just looking at the replay of the pitch (where I’m thinking) man, that would be one to challenge. I’d like to see them maybe get a little more aggressive with it.”

Lefko pointed to a couple situations from Monday’s game where it appeared the M’s could have used a challenge but didn’t. With runners on first and second and no outs in the second inning, Victor Robles struck out looking in a 2-2 count on a ball that was off the plate inside. And with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the sixth, Mitch Garver took a pitch below the zone on a 3-0 count that was called a strike.

“It’s early in the game and I’m sure that directive has been laid out there that we’re not gonna do it this early in the game or in this situation when no one’s on base,” Lefko said, “but seeing how successful the Yankees were, I do kind of think, alright, are the Mariners going to adapt with their philosophy and start to be a little more aggressive in utilizing challenges?”

On Wednesday, it appeared the Mariners may be experimenting with a more aggressive approach to ABS challenges.

Catcher Cal Raleigh challenged a pitch from George Kirby that was called a ball just two batters into the game, but the call was confirmed. Kirby then became the first Mariners pitcher to use a challenge just three batters later, getting a ball overturned to an inning-ending strike three against Paul Goldschmidt.

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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