Overview
- The Yankees are 10-for-23 on Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) appeals, about 44%, after a 2-for-13 stretch over their last nine games that left them with a league-high 13 failed challenges.
- In Friday’s 5-3 loss at Tampa Bay, New York burned both appeals by the fifth inning on first-pitch strikes with nobody on, then did not issue a single challenge Saturday.
- Manager Aaron Boone called recent appeals “not very good ones” and said he wants hitters to develop instinct for leverage even as he continues to encourage selective aggression.
- Results vary by player, with Aaron Judge (2-for-2), Giancarlo Stanton (1-for-1) and Trent Grisham (3-for-4) succeeding, while José Caballero (2-for-5), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (1-for-4), Cody Bellinger (0-for-2) and Austin Wells (0-for-2) have struggled.
- ABS lets hitters tap to challenge a ball or strike with two team appeals per game, and instant scoreboard rulings have turned timing and count leverage into a new tactical choice for clubs.