Yankees slugger Aaron Judge wins his first ABS challenge after so many team meetings on new system
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Aaron Judge believes the New York Yankees went a little bit overboard in their preparation for baseball's new Automated Ball-Strike System. Manager Aaron Boone admits he is a little “anal” about it all. “We had too many meetings about it in my opinion,” said Judge, the two-time reigning AL MVP who grounded out in this first at-bat Saturday.
Yet Judge's timely, spot-on challenge during the sixth inning of a 3-0 victory Friday night against San Francisco certainly paid off. He homered for the first time this season five pitches later with a two-run, 405-foot drive to left field after an 0-for-7 start to 2026 that included going 0 for 5 with four strikeouts Wednesday — the first hitless opening day of his career . Paul Goldschmidt scored on the play after a double to start the rally.
Judge challenged what originally had been ruled strike two by plate umpire Chad Fairchild on an 86. 1 mph slider from Robbie Ray in the sixth inning and had it overturned to a ball by the so-called robot umpire. “I thought the call was going to stand so it was a close one there,” Judge said.
“You get in a better count but I still have a job to do, especially with Goldy out there on second base to drive him in. ” New York was 2 for 3 in challenge opportunities through the first two games of the series, while the Giants were 1 for 2. Then a ball by San Francisco starter Tyler Mahle to Jazz Chisholm Jr.
in the second was challenged by Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, and the call was overturned to a called third strike — though the scoreboard announced it as a challenge by Chisholm, showing there are still kinks being worked out. “I was kind of obsessive over it, so I wanted to talk about it a lot,” Boone said Saturday. “I was going up to individuals almost routinely after every one, ‘Hey, I really liked that one,' why, ‘I hated that one,’ why.