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CINCINNATI — New to Major League Baseball this year is the opportunity to challenge ball and strike calls immediately.
Teams will be given two challenges per game and will have to use them judiciously. A challenge that results in an overturned call allows teams to retain that challenge.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora has had discussions with his players and coaching staff about how to proceed with the new guidelines.
“You saw what happened yesterday (in the Opening Night game between the Giants and Yankees) — there was only one challenge," said Cora before the season opener between the Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark. “It felt like towards the end of camp, guys weren’t as aggressive using the system.
“We have our system in place. We know when we’re going to try to challenge and in what situations. It’s not the most challenges; it’s when you’re going to challenge. So, we’ll see how it works. It will be interesting.”
The ABS system has been in place in the minor leagues for a few seasons, so many of the younger players on the roster have already experienced it even before this year.
“They’ve been able to use the system,” Cora said. “Some of them have been really good; others have been really, really bad in challenging. We’ll see.”
Cora said he won’t have any hard-and-fast rules about using challenges in the early innings so as to preserve them for big spots late in the game. But he does want players to use common sense.
“It all depends, right,” said Cora. “In the first inning it can be a 3-and-1 count, two outs, and it’s a pitch that’s borderline. Those are runs, right? We’re trying to create runs here. The system is around that — creating runs. If we do it early, we’ll take a shot."
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