Braves Chris Sale Balks at Idea of Utilizing New ABS System

The Atlanta Braves ace couldn't have been any clearer with his thoughts on using the new system MLB will introduce this upcoming season

Using a challenge? Chris Sale said, no thanks | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The upcoming Major League Baseball season comes with some new territory. This week, the guidelines for the automatic ball-strike (ABS) challenge system were unveiled. When you tune into an Atlanta Braves game this season, you'll now see pitchers and catchers use an allotted number of challenges to help sway the game.

Well, most probably will. One has already said he's going to pass on that. Chris Sale made it clear on Friday that he's not going to challenge any pitches.

"I will never challenge a pitch. I will never do it."

That is word-for-word how blunt he was with it. Never. Ever. He feels his job is to throw strikes. Someone else has been tasked with calling them.

"Because I'm not an umpire. That's their job," Chris Sale said, via Fox 5 on Friday. "I'm a starting pitcher. I've never called balls and strikes in my life. Plus, I'm greedy, and I know that. I think they're all strikes."

He also feels with how well catchers can frame these days, there's a chance he could be wrong. He rather not cost his team a challenge. Opting out all together can also help prevent any hot-headed decisions.

In the end, bad calls have just been part of the experience. He's fine with that reality.

"Across all games in my entire career, there's been balls called strikes and strikes called balls, and you just kind of deal with it."

That being said, if the man behind the dish wants to make a case, he'll step back and let him go for it.

"If my catcher has something to say about it, I'll leave that to him, but I've dealt with both sides, and I'm fine to keep dealing with it."

In the end, this shouldn't be too surprising. This is the same pitcher who claims he never shakes off a pitch. He trusts his catcher to make the right call for his pitch selection. He's going to let them handle the ABS system for him.

To defend him for a moment, this strategy has worked for him quite well. He has 2,579 strikeouts to his name with more to come in 2026. This decision to trust his catcher made him a nine-time All-Star and ultimately won him a Cy Young Award in 2024.

It would actually be out of character for him to suddenly want to get involved outside of what he's already been doing.

For younger stars, it's very different. In their case, the only time they may not have had a game with ABS is when they were in the majors. The minor leagues have had it for years, and about half the games use full ABS, not a challenge system.

Even if he did go through the system with it, he still may not have used it. It's all about trusting the catcher and playing his game. If it ain't broke, it's best not to fix it.