Reds manager Terry Francona has not seen the point of asking veteran players to utilize an experimental automated ball strike system during spring training.
The ABS system for challenging calls has been tested by MLB during spring training games, but will only be used again in minor leagues during the regular season.
“I'm fine because the younger kids did it,” Francona told reporters in Arizona on Friday. “That's not a strategy [the MLB teams]So why are you working on that?
“I don't want to make any farces, but we're preparing for the season here, and it's not helping us get ready.”
Francona, the manager who won two World Series hired by Cincinnati in October, added that he considers his abs to be “muddy.”
The computerized system has been in use in some form of minors for four years, and MLB is considering collecting data from spring training experiments and modifying the system at the triple A level.
ABS allows pitchers, batsmen and catchers to immediately challenge ball/strike calls.
Teams are currently allowed two challenges per game. This must be from a player on the field, not a dugout.
The ABS was first used in a spring training opener on Thursday between the Dodgers and Cubs in Arizona.
Chicago pitcher Cody Potoett, who appeared in last season's Yankees five games, became the first player to challenge a call during the trial when he asked Max Muncie to review his fastball in the bottom of his first inning. Ta.
Poteet, bought by the Cubs as part of the Cody Bellinger Trade, scored the ball challenge called by home plate referee Tony Randazzo, and changed the 1-1 count to 0-2 before hitting Muncy.
