ABS challenge system takeaways: What we've learned through 3 weeks of MLB play

It has been only three weeks, but Major League Baseball’s ABS challenge system has ushered in a whole new genre of statistics in a sport that was already known for the treasure trove of numbers and data points that help us understand what’s happening on the field. With players now having the option to challenge umpires’ strike-zone judgment — but with just two challenges per game and only successful challenges retained — we have a fascinating, new way to compare teams’ successes, failures and tendencies. We’re still in the earliest stages of comprehending how the ABS challenge system is best utilized — and so are the teams.

Even so, it hasn’t taken long for some intriguing trends to emerge, so here are a few takeaways from what we’ve seen so far. Which teams have been the best and worst at using the ABS challenge system? Through three weeks of MLB play, there have been 1,143 challenges issued.

Of those, 619 have been successful, meaning players have been right more often than not when challenging an umpire’s ball or strike call, with a 54% overturn rate. But not all teams are succeeding at this clip. Some have been much better, and some have been much worse: Nine clubs have a success rate above 60%, with the Reds comfortably ahead of the pack at a whopping 72%, while three teams — the Braves (39%), Guardians (39%) and Nationals (34%) — fall below 40%.

There’s also a pretty wide range in how often teams are challenging. Cincinnati’s league-best mark comes with only 29 challenges, tied with Washington for third-fewest of any team. Meanwhile, the Twins are tapping their heads all the time, having already challenged 61 calls this season — nine more than the second team, Colorado at 52 — with a 57% overturn rate.