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Fenway Rundown: ABS Challenge System is ‘right in your face all day long’
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- Fenway Rundown: ABS Challenge System is ‘right in your face all day long’
Baseball changed this season, and if you haven’t noticed yet, you’re not paying attention.
The Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system is here, and according to the latest Fenway Rundown podcast , it’s not just another subtle tweak to the game — it’s fundamentally altering how baseball is played, managed and experienced.
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Chris Cotillo summed it up during the show: “It feels like this ABS thing is more of a drastic change than a lot of these other things have been. It feels like it’s right in your face all day long.”
And Sean McAdam , who was in Cincinnati covering the Boston Red Sox’ opening series, lived through what might be the most dramatic early-season example of ABS technology in action: CB Buckner behind the plate on Saturday.
“Not only was the the ABS challenge there but you know he missed easily a half dozen pitches — I mean it was probably closer to a dozen but you know those got overturned,” McAdam explained on the podcast.
Buckner, an umpire with a three-decade reputation, got exposed repeatedly. Players on both sides were tapping their helmets, challenging calls, and watching the Great American Ball Park video board as pitch after pitch was overturned.
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The drama is instant. The technology is fast. And most importantly? It’s deciding games.
McAdam noted a perfect example from opening day: “The decision by Anthony to properly challenge in the ninth, extended that inning, and gave them two insurance runs.”
Think about that. Roman Anthony — a 21-year-old —made a split-second decision to challenge a called third strike. The technology overturned it. The inning continued. The Red Sox scored two more runs. And as Alex Cora pointed out after the game, there’s a massive difference between a 3-0 lead and a 1-0 lead in a bandbox ballpark.
The podcast noted though, that after the Red Sox were wrong about two challenges early Saturday, they were essentially naked for the final six innings against an umpire who couldn’t find the zone.
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“You can’t be without them for the final six innings as they were,” McAdam said. “You have to be judicious in your use and you’ve got to save them for late in the game or else it’s going to come back to bite you in the ass.”
Cotillo added another layer to this: teams are already establishing internal rules about who can and cannot challenge.
“There’s guys with the Red Sox who probably are complete red light, do not challenge, you don’t know the zone. There’s guys like Anthony who have complete green light. You can challenge whenever you want.”
And then there’s the human element — the umpires themselves.
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McAdam didn’t hold back when discussing Buckner’s performance.
“CB Buckner, as soon as I saw him step behind the plate, I thought to myself, ‘Oh my god, this is going to be a real test of this system immediately because he’s had a horrible zone for 30 years. Everybody knows it.’”
The podcast also discussed how coaching staffs have been using data for years to inform hitters about which umpires miss which pitches, but now players can actually do something about it.
“Hitters are going up there with a lot on their minds, a lot on their head about what goes into challenging or not challenging because they’ve got that data and they just haven’t been able to capitalize on it. Now they can,” McAdam explained.
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Does McAdam feel bad for umpires getting embarrassed by overturned calls? Not really.
“You’re not good at your job. So I don’t feel sorry for you.”
The speed of the system is remarkable — challenges take about 10 seconds. Tap your helmet, step out, load the video, get the call. And in those 10 seconds, entire ballparks hold their breath.
“There’s an air of anticipation in the ballpark when that happens,” McAdam said. “Like, ooh, everyone’s like, ‘Ooh, what’s going to happen?’”
Listen to the full Fenway Rundown episode to hear more about how teams are adapting, which Red Sox players have “green light” challenge authority, and why this technology is already the most impactful change baseball has seen in years.
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