How Astros Batters Have Continued to Gain An Edge Through ABS Challenge System

The Houston Astros offense got out to a strong start this season, and while the group cooled off during various stretches of the first half, the bats for Houston have produced more often than not.

MVP candidate and All-Star Yordan Alvarez leads the Astros and most of baseball in offensive production across the board as he continues to chase the triple crown. While most of the focus for the Astros offense goes straight to Alvarez, there is another area of massive success for the Astros so far this season.

It may come as a bit of a surprise, but it honestly fits the theme of a typical Astros offense from the golden era that is disciplined. The Astros may have gotten away from that last season, but there's no doubt that the new mindset at the plate has been working.

The Astros are the best team in baseball at batter success percentage when it comes to the new ABS Challenge system, according to ESPN. Here are more details on the numbers and why.

Astros Offense Elite at ABS

Houston Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes hits an RBI single | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Astros offense as a whole has a 61.8 percent success rate with the ABS Challenge, which is the best in MLB, as of July 9. The next closest offensive group is the Cincinnati Reds at 56.9 percent. That's a big difference from first to second.

The Astros have found what works when it comes to the new system of challenging balls and strikes. Each team only gets two challenges per game, and whenever a member of the Astros lineup uses it, the call goes in their favor almost 62 percent of the time.

There are a couple of standout batters on the Astros when it comes to this new part of the game. Superstar second baseman Jose Altuve is currently second in MLB with 15 successful challenges. That's out of 21 attempts total, for a rate of 71.4 percent. It's the sixth-best success rate by a batter in baseball.

The batter with the best success rate in MLB? That would be Altuve's infield teammate, Isaac Paredes. He is remarkably perfect so far on ABS, going 11/11 on challenges at this point. He's the only player in baseball to still have a perfect success rate.

It's honestly not surprising to see someone of Paredes' caliber on top of this list, simply because he sees the zone as well as anyone there is. Paredes has a great eye for the strike zone, and it is one of the ways he's able to extend at-bats. He strikes out at a 16 percent clip, which is ranked at the 79th percentile according to Baseball Savant.

Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) celebrates in the dugout. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For years, Altuve has been called up on strikes for pitches that may never have been in the zone. Given his size of 5-foot-6, his smaller zone may have missed some umpires and given him bad luck on some calls. However, he now has some control in this matter.

Altuve has a wild swing at times, but he's found more discipline and used this new system to his advantage. It couldn't have been put to more perfect use in the Astros' 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on June 30. Altuve got called for a strikeout with the bases loaded and two outs, down 3-1 in the fourth inning.

He overturned it, and drew the bases loaded walk. That set up Alvarez, who hit the go-ahead grand slam. It changed the game. It's not just Altuve and Paredes.

The Astros are the only team to have four players in the top 15 of the batter ABS challenge rankings on ESPN. First baseman Christian Walker comes in 15th with a 9/16 mark so far, while outfielder Cam Smith also made it with a 9/20 mark.

The Astros will look for this kind of triumph when it comes to the pitcher and catcher success rate. Houston currently has just a 47.7 percent success rate in that category, which is second-to-worst (29th) in MLB.

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