The 2026 Red Sox have had their fair share of struggles. It may not rank as high as [insert batting metric here], but their issues with the newly implemented automated ball-strike system (ABS) are among their most notable problems so far.
The Red Sox have the worst ABS challenge success rate in MLB at 42%, winning just 30 of their 72 total challenges (14-for-39 as batters and 16-for-33 as fielders). The next-lowest mark belongs to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have 47 successful challenges, 17 more than Boston.
Prior to approving the introduction of ABS ahead of the 2026 season, MLB tested the system in Triple-A beginning in 2022, the same year interim manager Chad Tracy took over as manager of the WooSox. With that background, it’s a topic the Red Sox coaching staff is more than familiar with.
“We talk about it a lot, actually. We talked about it yesterday,” Tracy told WEEI’s Rich and Ken with Ted Johnson. “You guys know I’ve been in Triple-A for a long time. This stuff originated in Triple-A. I’ve been watching it for four years. [42%] sounds terrible, but even in Triple-A all the years they did it, I think the average was like around 51%. It’s not a massive thing. It’s usually just 50/50, slightly above. And we have numbers that we look at, I don’t want to turn it into a math equation, but like, per challenge that we get right, our run value is actually pretty good. The problem is, we’re not challenging enough.”
Boston’s 72 total challenges (39 by batters and 33 by fielders) are the fewest in MLB. No other team has fewer than 90.
“We leave opportunities on the table,” Tracy added. “So, our conversations with our players are not necessarily about missing one, because everybody misses half of them on average. It’s more about there are opportunities, even maybe in situations where there is nobody on base where you want to use those and keep them around for big situations, but there are certain egregious calls with nobody on – if you know, you know: go. Don’t leave strike one that’s this far outside and be okay with it being strike one. That’s the conversations, being more willing to use them in spots that maybe aren’t with base loaded, but if you know, you know. So, we’re having conversations around that topic pretty regularly, trying to get that thing to swing in the other direction.”
You can catch the full interview below, including updates on Roman Anthony, Tracy’s relationship with Craig Breslow, and more.
