Overview
- League data through late May show walks have risen from about 3.2 to 3.5 per nine innings as the ABS system uses a precise 8.5‑inch midpoint and player‑specific top/bottom boundaries to grade pitches.
- Hawk‑Eye upgraded to 300 frames per second this season, which tightened the technical basis for overturns and made challenge outcomes more consistent and measurable.
- Statcast records place overall challenge success at roughly 43 percent, with catchers and fielders winning about 47 percent of challenges and batters winning about 39 percent because catchers view the plane of the zone more directly.
- Analytic, ABS‑experienced clubs — often lower‑payroll teams that train the skill set — are extracting runs above expected by using challenges more effectively, while big‑market teams that rely on feel have lagged.
- The San Francisco Giants illustrate uneven adaptation: their spring training challenge success fell from about 60 percent to 51 percent in the regular season, and the club has begun using TrackMan and targeted coaching to close the experience gap and reduce costly swings and few walks.