Use \u2019em or lose \u2019em.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not exactly an emerging strategy for the new Automated Ball-Strike system, but it\u2019s a guideline that the Padres are wrapping their heads around as they continue to get a feel for how to deploy challenges for this new strike zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to see us finish the game with no challenges left,\u201d Padres manager Craig Stammen said, \u201cor at least challenge a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entering Tuesday, the Padres were 2-for-3 challenging calls on offense and 3-for-5 challenging calls while in the field (all by catchers). While those numbers are especially conservative on offense \u2014 only one team has fewer offensive challenges \u2014 the whole idea is to save challenges for moments that can impact a game.<\/p>\n
Such a moment arrived in the top of the ninth inning on Monday after Jake Cronenworth\u2019s leadoff walk, but Fernando Tatis Jr. did not challenge the called strike on a 2-1 slider that appeared to land above the zone as reflected in MLB\u2019s Gameday app.<\/p>\n
The pitch didn\u2019t end or extend an at-bat, but counts clearly matter to hitters. This year alone, hitters in a 3-1 count have a 1.518 OPS and hitters in a 2-2 count have a .442 OPS.<\/p>\n
Tatis foul tipped the next pitch \u2014 a slider on the outside corner \u2014 into the catcher\u2019s glove for a strikeout. Two batters later, Jackson Merrill homered to cut the Giants\u2019 lead to 3-2, which ended up being the final score.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure there were other pitches we could challenge, too,\u201d Stammen said a day later. \u201cBut just like thinking (Tatis) specifically, one of our best hitters, arguably our best hitter, in a ninth-inning game where it doesn\u2019t matter if you don\u2019t get to keep the challenge for tomorrow, maybe it\u2019s something that we can have a conversation about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Probably a lot of conversations.<\/p>\n
After all, Stammen lamented that 30 games in spring training is hardly enough time for hitters to know all the ins and outs and do\u2019s and don\u2019ts and percentages. Ideally, the Padres want to make sure they have a challenge in the bag for Mason Miller in the ninth inning, but the most impactful moment of a game often arrives before the final inning.<\/p>\n
The Padres have a color-coded sheet in the dugout similar to NFL coaches\u2019 go-for-2 sheets, but it\u2019s still a lot for a hitter to grasp in the moment of a heated at-bat, as Tatis was in the ninth inning against Giants closer Ryan Walker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s also a piece of these guys taking an at bat and not wanting some external circumstances to be thinking about, like, should I challenge this pitch or not?\u201d Stammen said. \u201cIt\u2019s more like, \u2018I\u2019m going to get a hit. I got to figure out a way to get on base.\u2019 You\u2019re battling those two like personas in their head. You want a clear mind, simple thoughts, but then we\u2019re also asking them like, \u2018No, you need to know the strike zone. No, you got a challenge too, and you got to do it immediately.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there\u2019s a give and a take with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n
RHP Griffin Canning (Achilles) threw three innings (about 50 pitches) in a simulated game on Monday in a workout at low Single-A Lake Elsinore. Canning had been scheduled to pitch this week in Tacoma for Triple-A El Paso, but inclement weather forced the shift to Lake Elsinore. His next appearance will be a rehab start on Saturday for Double-A San Antonio in Tulsa. \u201cI feel like I just have to build up at this point,\u201d Canning said. \u201cI\u2019m feeling pretty ready to go. \u2026 I think I\u2019m probably further ahead than maybe what they first expected before I signed. Everything\u2019s been going well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Use \u2019em or lose \u2019em. That\u2019s not exactly an emerging strategy for the new Automated Ball-Strike system, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-245925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-san-diego-padres","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}