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Pitch challenges go from novelty to necessity In a matter of months, a tap on the head has become as common in MLB stadiums as Take Me Out to the Ball Game and home runs.
The automated ball-strike challenge system has afforded MLBs 30 clubs a chance to turn a game on its head by challenging an umpires call with the gesture.
At the midpoint of the baseball season, all 30 clubs had initiated at least 150 challenges.
Not all challenges are created equal, however, and some clubs and players have been better at it than others.
Catchers lead the way in total challenges, but some hitters have been aggressive about using the system.
ADVERTISING Using data (through July 12) from the website Tap to Challenge and talking with MLB players, here is how teams, players and umpires were faring at the midpoint of the 2026 season.
Some teams are still reluctant to challenge.
Through the All-Star break, no team was more successful at ball-strike challenges than the Cincinnati Reds.
Remember in February 2025 when Reds manager Terry Francona brushed off its use in spring training? At the time, the systems implementation was still on the horizon, and Francona was more focused on the present.
Why work on it? he said at the time.
I dont want to make a farce of anything, but were here getting ready for a season, and thats not helping us get ready.
Though the Reds lead MLB in win percentage of ball-strike challenges (64.4%), they are far from MLBs most aggressive team.
That title belongs to the Minnesota Twins, who challenged 270 pitches, 25 more than the next-closest team, the Colorado Rockies.
By number of attempts, the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks are the only clubs that had not hit the 175 or more challenge threshold.
San Diegos reluctance to challenge is intriguing.
On April 25, the clubs 50 challenges ranked in the middle of the pack.
In the 83 days afterward, the Padres added just 124 more.
In spite of its reluctance to challenge, Boston has been baseballs best team since July 1.
The umpires are not that bad.
Modern umpires are tasked with navigating an increasingly complex, pitching-heavy game, and though the ball-strike system has magnified some of the bad calls, it has also highlighted just how good the umpires are.
Of the 91 umpires who have called a game from behind home plate, 90 have an accuracy rating of 91.2% or better.
Only one, C.B.
Bucknor, sits under 91.2%, at 88.9% accuracy.
Andy Fletcher had the highest overturn rate (72.5%), having 37 calls overturned in 51 challenges.
Todd Tichenor was second (66.2%) and Stu Scheurwater third (63.8).
These umpires have a really, really, really difficult job, Reds rookie Sal Stewart said.
I only have to know my zone; they need to know the whole leagues zone.
He added: I just want to say, man, the umpires have done a great job.
This system, its not easy.
They have to know a lot of people, different heights.
Louie Krupa (12 of 36 overturned, 33.3%), Derek Thomas (34.6) and Dexter Kelley (36.4) had the lowest overturn rates.
Catchers are really good at this.
Entering the regular season, one of the biggest questions surrounding the challenge system was who, on a teams 26-man roster, would have the right to challenge.
So far, that answer is overwhelmingly catchers.
Tyler Stephenson, the Reds catcher, has the highest winning percentage on challenges.
He challenged 89 and won 66 for a 74.2% rate.
Salvador Perez, the Kansas City Royals catcher, was 45 for 63, or 71.4%.
Detroit Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler was 54 of 78, or 69.2%.
So whats the secret? I dont really have a secret, said Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman, who won 57 of 90 on challenges for a 63.3% success rate.
I feel like one thing that Ive done well this year is knowing the pitchers shapes and how they enter the zone.
So guys with weird arm slots or they throw from a funky angle.
They kind of enter the zone a little differently.
I try my best to challenge the pitch shapes.
So if its a slider away from the righty, theres probably a better chance its running away from the zone, or if theres a sinker coming back to the zone, theres a better chance thats going to be a strike.
Its kind of like one of those things you kind of learn as you go.
Dingler, who is second in the American League in successful challenges, pointed to a need to be fearless.
If you think its a strike, rip it, said Dingler, a first-time All-Star.
That was one of the biggest things that kind of helped me with that, because you kind of hesitate.
You dont want to burn them.
You dont want to make somebody mad that doesnt get to use it later in the game.
But generally speaking, if I think its a strike right away and I have a good feeling about it, its usually a strike.
There are some good position players, too.
While catchers generate most of the challenges, and successful ones at that, there are several position players who have been able to hold their own at the plate, including two rookies, Stewart and Tigers shortstop Kevin McGonigle.
Among noncatchers, Isaac Paredes, the Houston Astros third baseman, has been most successful, challenging 12 and being right 11 times, for a percentage of 91.7%.
Davis Schneider, the Toronto Blue Jays outfielder, was 11 for 14 for a 78.6% success rate.
The Astros Jose Altuve was 15 of 21 for 71.4%.
McGonigle was 13 of 19 for a 68.4% success rate.
Stewart, an infielder, was drafted in 2022.
His rise through the minors coincided with the systems implementation in baseballs lower levels.
That led to an immediate comfort level that not every player shares.
I had it even in Low-A a few times, so Im more comfortable with it, Stewart said.
Ive had it for a few years already, so its definitely helped me.
In the case of McGonigle, chalk it up to a good eye.
Just knowing the zone, studying the pitchers and where they like to go with certain pitches, and just getting a good feel for the zone, McGonigle said.
The expansion of the challenge system beyond Triple-A into the Arizona Fall League and spring training should help future rookies become more familiar with it and reduce the adjustment period when they reach the majors.
In other words, the next wave of MLB talent should have little trouble adjusting.
I think its going to help a lot of guys, McGonigle said.
The system has had its lowlights.
If there is one thing the automated ball-strike system has excelled at, aside from helping overturn bad calls, is providing some amusing highlights when things go wrong.
Before the All-Star break, outfielder Alex Call squandered both of the Los Angeles Dodgers available challenges in the second inning of a game.
Only one of those pitches was worth challenging.
Before that, Randy Arozarena found himself wasting all of the Seattle Mariners challenges, in the first inning, on pitches that were not particularly close to being balls.
Then there was Jazz Chisholm Jr.
of the New York Yankees being so confident in his challenge that he was taking off his gear to go to first base on what he thought was the fourth ball.
Surprise: It was a strike.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
2026 The New York Times Company.