If you went to an IronPigs game this time last season, games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were played using the Auto Ball-Strike System (ABS) and the weekend games were played with the “challenge system.”

Later in the season, Major League Baseball made a change and switched every game to the challenge system where the pitcher, catcher, or hitter can challenge the ball/strike call by the home plate umpire. If the pitch was called correctly, the team lost one of their two challenges in the game. If the umpire made a bad call, the call was changed, and the team retained that challenge.

When MLB made the change to an all-challenge system, it seemed to signal that would become the preferred system that would one day be put into place in the majors. All of MLB used the challenge system in spring training and the word was that it would be in place for the 2026 Major League Baseball season. The goal is to get the calls right and not slow down the game. The challenge system is done very quickly and efficiently, and gets the calls right, fulfilling both requirements.

There is one group that prefers the ABS system: the umpires.

Many umpires see the challenge system as an opportunity to be shown up by technology. After all, fans do love to yell at an umpire for making the wrong call and the challenge system exposes that.

If you dig deeper though, you realize a couple of things. First, just as with replay in the majors, the umpires are pretty good and most of the calls are upheld. Second, when an umpire does miss, it’s usually not by much. The system is so precise that it measures how far out of the strike zone a pitch may be. It’s not unusual for a pitch to be as close to 0.2 inches away from being a strike. Many of the pitches are 0.4 or 0.5 inches out of the strike zone. Keep in mind that these pitches are traveling anywhere from the upper 70 miles per hour mark up to 100 miles per hour and are moving side-to-side and/or up-and-down. In other words, do you really want to be an umpire?

If the reason for the inclusion of technology is to get the call right, then the full ABS system would be the way to go. If a pitch is a ball, ABS will call it a ball. It will be consistent and add absolutely zero time to a game. A challenge gets the call right and takes maybe an additional 15 seconds to the game. However, if a team has run out of challenges, it could mean that a call gets missed in a critical situation.

LOOK BACK, LOOK AHEAD… Lehigh Valley split their six-game series at Gwinnett with most of the games being competitive and the Pigs holding a 32-30 advantage in runs scored. The only game that got a little out of hand was the opener where Lehigh Valley won 15-9. The run output was the most since last May when they scored 16 against Rochester. The 16 hits were the most since last August when they banged out 19 against Jacksonville. They also matched their most recent high of 30 total bases that they achieved in that same game.

This week, former IronPigs fan favorite Andy Tracy, the manager of the Columbus Clippers, will be in town. The Clips lead the IL West with a 12-7 record, just ½ game ahead of Iowa and Nashville. The IronPigs (14-7) are 1 game behind Jacksonville in the IL East. Their roster features the Guardians number two prospect Chase DeLauter, 23, but he is currently on the Injured List recovering from surgery from a bilateral core muscle injury and won’t hit the field until at least next month. Infielder Juan Brito, outfielder Jonathan Rodriguez, and pitchers Andrew Walters (righty) and Parker Messick (lefty) are other solid Cleveland prospects with Columbus.

HOT, HOT, HOT… Among hitters with at least 30 plate appearances in the last 10 games, Christian Arroyo leads the hitters with a .357 average, Buddy Kennedy is batting .294, and Otto Kemp is hitting .289 over that span. Arroyo has nine RBIs in his last seven games and Garrett Stubbs has eight RBIs in his last 10 games.

Among pitchers, Nicholas Padilla has not allowed a run in his last seven appearances and Guillo Zuniga has not allowed a run in his last six outings. Devin Sweet (1.17) and Koyo Aoyagi (1.29) have been impressive over their past seven outings, while Joel Kuhnel has a 1.74 ERA in his last six outings. Since joining the IronPigs since being released by the Marlins, Brett de Geus has not allowed an earned run in 6 2/3 innings of work.

FIRST UP... Cal Stevenson became the first IronPigs player to be recalled to Philadelphia when outfielder Brandon Marsh went on the IL with a hamstring injury.