A spring-and-summer experiment with the automated ball-strike system is turning into a sore spot for the Yankees, who keep losing high-leverage challenges and stranding runners.
The Yankees are not enjoying the automated ball-strike challenge system as much as they hoped to. After a hot start at the plate that produced confident challenges, the team has run cold on the appeals, repeatedly burning challenges at high-leverage moments and leaving runners standing on base.
Internal numbers, according to staffers, show the team's success rate sliding well below the league average over the last three weeks. Coaches have urged hitters to be more selective about when they raise the challenge flag, with mixed results.
Aggressiveness is part of the team's identity, the manager said earlier this week, but he was clear that aggressiveness without success is just noise. He has been working with the staff on a small set of triggers — count, runners on, pitch type — that he wants the hitters to internalize before they tap.
For now, the system remains a feature of the season the Yankees have not figured out. The teams that have are quietly building a small but real edge.