ABS (the Automated Ball-Strike Problem System, powered by T-Cellular) is lastly right here, and in Spring Coaching, we’re getting our first good have a look at which Main League batters and catchers are the most effective … and worst … at difficult balls and strikes.
They’ve every part out of your primary problem stats — challenges received and misplaced, problem win proportion, highest price of difficult and so forth — to extra detailed Statcast stats that measure gamers’ true difficult talent.
Fortunately, we have already got a full season’s price of ABS from the 2025 Triple-A season to check for insights earlier than ABS hits the Main Leagues for actual on Opening Day. Let’s check out among the gamers with essentially the most fascinating problem stats.
Listed below are 12 of the most important standouts from the 2025 Triple-A ABS leaderboard.
1) Davis Schneider — the most effective batter at profitable challenges
By the top of the 2025 season, Schneider was a key participant for the Blue Jays on their run to the American League pennant. However early within the 12 months, he was down in Triple-A — the place he confirmed he had an enormous league eye on the plate. Schneider challenged 12 calls, and received 10 of these challenges. His 83% problem win price was the best of 169 batters with not less than 10 challenges on the Triple-A degree in 2025. Schneider was notably good at difficult strike calls off the surface fringe of the plate, which included reversing 5 would-be strikeouts.
Schneider stands out for his plate self-discipline even amongst large league hitters. His 20.9% chase price ranked inside the highest 10% of hitters who noticed as many out-of-zone pitches as he did, and his 15.9% stroll price was tied for fifth-best out of 348 hitters with not less than 200 plate appearances. That plate self-discipline talent and sense of the strike zone seems to have translated over to difficult.
2) Jamie Westbrook — essentially the most beneficial batter
When it got here to producing worth by difficult on the proper occasions — and costing your opponent their challenges — no Triple-A hitter was higher than Westbrook in 2025.
Statcast has a brand new stat for challenges known as “Overturns vs. Anticipated,” which estimates what number of extra overturned calls a participant creates, in comparison with what you’d count on for a mean participant who noticed the very same pitches.
There are two variations of this stat: Internet Overturns For, which reveals what number of challenges a participant wins over expectations when he’s the one difficult; and Internet Overturns In opposition to, which reveals what number of calls go the participant’s approach above expectations when the opponent is the one difficult (that’s, the opposite staff loses their challenges in opposition to the participant).
Once you mix the 2, Westbrook was king. The Rays Minor Leaguer generated +19.9 Overturns vs. Anticipated final season, by far the most effective of any Triple-A hitter. He was nice at difficult aggressively and efficiently himself on the plate, and opposing pitchers and catchers additionally had a really tough time difficult in opposition to him.
In the event you’re curious as to why, this is a clue: Westbrook is 5-foot-7. As a shorter participant, he knew simply the place the highest of his personal strike zone was — and the opposite staff did not. Westbrook received the overwhelming majority of his challenges on pitches simply above the highest fringe of the strike zone, and opposing catchers misplaced tons of challenges in opposition to him on those self same pitches.
Westbrook wasn’t the one quick batter to be an important challenger, both — fellow 5-foot-7 hitters Bryan Torres and Rafael Lantigua had been additionally close to the highest of the Statcast Triple-A problem leaderboard. Possibly that’ll bode nicely for shorter MLB stars like Jose Altuve and José RamÃrez.
3) P.J. Higgins — the most effective catcher by far
Now let’s flip round and have a look at the fielding facet. Catchers can have the most important affect as challengers, since they’re behind the plate for much extra pitches than any particular person hitter and have the most effective view of the strike zone of any participant on the sphere.
He challenged ceaselessly — together with numerous calls most different catchers would not — and he was virtually at all times proper. Higgins received 87% of his challenges final season — 48 of 62 — which was the most effective win price of any catcher to problem 20 or extra pitches.
Higgins received 21 challenges on pitches that had been contained in the strike zone by lower than one inch — he was in a position to flip ball calls even when there was only a fraction of the baseball clipping the sting of the zone. Higgins merely knew a strike when he caught one.
4) Travis Bazzana — the most effective challenger amongst prime hitting prospects
Let’s check out some prime prospects who had been additionally prime challengers. Bazzana, MLB’s No. 20 prospect total, is one such participant.
Bazzana, the No. 1 total Draft choose in 2024, reached Triple-A final season. And despite the fact that the 23-year-old lefty slugger solely spent 26 video games there, he shortly established himself as an efficient challenger.
As soon as he obtained to Triple-A, Bazzana wasted no time difficult, and profitable. His 15% problem price was one of many highest amongst Triple-A hitters, however he received the vast majority of these challenges, making him a web optimistic for the Guardians’ Triple-A affiliate. He was aggressive, however not over-aggressive.
For an instance of a prospect who was a extra passive challenger, but additionally a very good one, have a look at Owen Caissie. MLB’s No. 42 total prospect, who was not too long ago traded to the Marlins, challenged solely six occasions in 99 Triple-A video games with the Cubs final 12 months. However Caissie received 4 of these challenges, together with erasing two would-be strikeouts, which made the 23-year-old’s few challenges high-impact challenges when it comes to worth.
5) Jeferson Quero — the most effective challenger amongst prime catching prospects
The 23-year-old Quero was one of many prime catching prospects in baseball earlier than a shoulder damage value him an entire season, however he returned in 2025 and proved he is nonetheless an elite defender — and that extends to his problem capability.
Loads of different prime catching prospects who performed at Triple-A in 2025 did not actually stand out at difficult balls and strikes, however Quero was wonderful. He ranked within the prime 15 Triple-A catchers in Overturns vs. Anticipated at +10.2, and he generated all that worth with barely half the challenges of most of the catchers round him on that leaderboard. The Brewers’ Triple-A squad received almost two thirds of the challenges with Quero behind the dish (23 of 36, 64%), a top-five mark for catchers who challenged not less than 20 calls.
The Brewers are identified for his or her catcher growth, and Quero appeared like a future defensive star even earlier than he began profitable challenges.
6) Spencer Jones — a tall participant who’s good at difficult
Earlier, we noticed with Westbrook how a shorter batter can use challenges to his benefit by flipping calls on the prime of the zone. However tall batters will be good at difficult, too. A minimum of Jones, the Yankees’ 6-foot-7 slugging prospect, was.
Apparently, the pitches he challenged had been extra alongside the within and out of doors edges of the zone than the underside — the place, as Yankees followers know, tall batters like Aaron Choose have traditionally been susceptible to low strikes going in opposition to them.
7) Deyvison De Los Santos — essentially the most (over)aggressive batter
One of many most important issues the ABS leaderboard retains observe of is just, “Who challenged essentially the most usually?”
On the batter facet, the reply to that for 2025 was De Los Santos … who confirmed that there’s certainly such a factor as being too aggressive together with your challenges.
The Marlins infielder challenged 18.8% of all challengeable pitches he noticed at Triple-A (that means, his staff nonetheless had challenges remaining, and the pitch was a known as strike in opposition to him). He pulled the set off on something shut. On borderline pitches (inside a baseball’s width of the sting of the strike zone), his problem price shot as much as 34.3%. These charges had been the best amongst Triple-A hitters.
And that was simply too many challenges. De Los Santos received simply 42% of his challenges total (16 of 38), and 43% of his challenges on borderline pitches (15 of 35). That resulted in him having a unfavorable worth on challenges in comparison with what you’d count on from a mean participant. His 22 misplaced challenges had been tied for essentially the most by any Triple-A hitter.
8) Max Stassi — essentially the most (appropriately) aggressive catcher
On the catcher facet, essentially the most frequent challenger was an MLB veteran, Stassi … who confirmed that it is potential to be an aggressive challenger and a very good challenger.
The 34-year-old, who spent 2025 within the Giants group, was nonetheless in a position to win 60% of these challenges (21 of 35) even whereas difficult at a a lot higher-than-expected price. That is the savvy of spending a decade behind the plate within the large leagues, even when difficult was a brand new trick he needed to be taught.
Stassi challenged loads, however he additionally mainly solely challenged on borderline pitches that had been near the zone. He wasn’t difficult something loopy, and as a rule, he was proper.
9) Zac Veen — the least profitable difficult batter
The 24-year-old Rockies prospect challenged at one of many highest charges amongst Triple-A hitters (17% of challengeable pitches) … and misplaced almost each time. Veen received simply three challenges, and misplaced 22 — as many as any hitter.
Veen, a left-handed hitter, simply did not have a very good really feel for the surface fringe of the strike zone. That is basically the one location the place he appreciated to problem, and it virtually by no means paid off.
10) Yonathan Perlaza — the most effective batter at flipping plate appearances
Gamers can problem balls and strikes in any rely, however essentially the most seen affect occurs after they take a strikeout off the board by reversing a known as Strike 3, or create a stroll by flipping a strike to a Ball 4.
Perlaza was the hitter who had essentially the most plate appearance-changing challenges at Triple-A in 2025. He erased seven potential strikeouts by difficult efficiently (a “Okay flip”), and created 4 further walks (a “BB flip”). (4 of these Okay flips and BB flips overlapped, with the problem approaching a full rely with both a strikeout or a stroll using on the end result).
The Padres Minor Leaguer wasn’t the best challenger total (he received slightly below 50% of his challenges), however by selecting to make use of an enormous chunk of his challenges in two-strike or three-ball counts, he was in a position to flip total plate appearances, not simply pitches.
11) Blake Hunt — the most effective catcher at flipping plate appearances
For catchers, Okay flips and BB flips imply the other — a Okay flip is stealing a strikeout for his or her pitcher, and a BB flip is taking a stroll off the board.
Hunt, who was within the Mariners system final season, did that notably usually. He obtained his pitchers 17 strikeouts by difficult, and erased eight walks. He was particularly expert at difficult pitches close to the corners of the strike zone.
Focusing on plate appearance-changing challenges appeared to be a method of Seattle’s Triple-A catchers. Harry Ford was additionally close to the highest of the listing of catcher Okay/BB flips, with 14 strikeouts created and eight walks erased.
12) Cooper Ingle — a prospect who’s good as a catcher and a batter
Ingle is a Prime 100 prospect getting into 2026 who can be a problem twin menace: He is a very good challenger on the plate as a batter, and a very good challenger behind the plate as a catcher.
Final season, the 24-year-old Guardians backstop received six of his seven challenges as a batter (86%), and eight of his 14 challenges as a catcher (57%). Total, he was price +9.2 Overturns vs. Anticipated (+4.0 as a batter, +5.2 as a catcher).
He did not problem a lot, however he was good at it, in each phases of the sport the place he was concerned.
