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ESPN analyst reveals Pirates' 2.93 ERA reliever made worst ABS challenge of 2026
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- ESPN analyst reveals Pirates' 2.93 ERA reliever made worst ABS challenge of 2026
ESPN analyst reveals Pirates' 2.93 ERA reliever made worst ABS challenge of 2026 originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
For the first time in MLB history, hitters, pitchers, and catchers have been able to challenge ball and strike calls during an at-bat. This year's ABS challenges have been incredible theatre, with some massive moments made possible by them.
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But while there have been plenty of clutch challenges, close overturns, and pivotal swings due to pitches being overturned, there is the other side of the equation worth looking at. Some challenges this year have been terrible. But, one has to stand out as the worst.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan , that honor goes to Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Yohan Ramirez , who made what Passan called the "worst challenge" of the debut season with ABS.
Pirates' Yohan Ramirez made MLB's worst ABS challenge
" Atlanta catcher Drake Baldwin stood at the plate. The bases were empty. The count was full. Two outs. And with Pittsburgh trailing 6-4, Yohan Ramirez fired a 96.7 mph fastball inside," Passan writes. "Ramirez was convinced he'd painted the pitch. He spun off the mound and walked toward the Pirates' dugout. He was telegraphing what was about to come."
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After what Ramirez thought should've been a called third strike went as a ball, he challenged the pitch and was so, so wrong.
That challenge from Ramirez in the sixth inning of a game they were trailing 6-4 against the Atlanta Braves wound up being incorrect. The results showed that Ramirez missed the plate by 5.5 inches, a massive margin that he had no business challenging.
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It was not a close pitch, and it was one of the worst challenges of the year. In Passan's view, it was the single worst challenge this season.
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There have been plenty of other terrible challenges this season, but the theatre of this mistake is what elevates it from a simple mistake into teach-tape of what pitchers should not do.
Passan shared that 60.7% of pitchers' challenges end up being wrong. Ramirez is part of that large share of incorrect pitchers, with what might be the worst ABS challenge for some time.
