BOSTON — In addition to the usual batting practice and fielding drills, the Red Sox spent some additional pre-game time Tuesday on refining their ABS challenges.
With interim manager Chad Tracy serving as a makeshift umpire behind the plate, the Red Sox rotated all three of their catchers and another three or so hitters at the plate, in an effort to refine their approach to ball-and-strike challenges.
According to Baseball Savant, Sox hitters have been among the least successful teams on a percentage basis, getting just 38 percent of their calls right when it comes to overturning challenges, with only Cleveland and Atlanta ranked below them.
On the defensive side, the Red Sox haven’t been much better, ranked 24th among all MLB teams with a success rate — mostly initiated by catchers — at just 51 percent.
“We just haven’t been as good at it as we need to be,” said Tracy. “We put some steps into place before we left on the road trip and saw some good results in the couple games in Cleveland, especially the last day. But broadly, sometimes we don’t challenge enough and maybe we hold too many, just waiting for big moments, when there’s a lot of egregious calls prior to that we know...it’s not a strike.