J.T. Realmuto Not Loving the Additional Responsibility of ABS System

Between game-planning with pitchers, going over video and scouting reports on hitters and trying to maintain his own timing at the plate, J.T. Realmuto is a busy man. Catcher is not just baseball's most physically demanding position but the most mentally taxing as well, since you're involved on every pitch defensively.

Lucky for him, now he gets another major responsibility to add to his daily list: the ABS challenge system.

This will be the first season in MLB of the Automated Ball-Strike system in which the pitcher, catcher or hitter can challenge a ball or strike call they think was missed by the home-plate umpire. Teams are granted two challenges per game and retain each successful one, with a third challenge added in extra innings if a team has run out.

More on the catcher's plate

Not only does the person challenging have to feel confident he was right, he has to keep in mind the time, score and situation.

"It is what it is. I like it as a hitter, I don't love it as a catcher," Realmuto said Sunday during an in-game interview on the Phillies' broadcast.

"I just think it puts so much more on our plate. We've got to know guys' strike zones, their top, their bottom. And then know whether it's a time in the game that's worth a challenge. And then we're always going to get questioned after the game why we didn't challenge certain ones. It puts a lot more on our plate. But these pitchers are getting so good, it's going to help to have a consistent strike zone every day."

Early returns

We've seen all sorts of challenges so far in spring training — some on egregious misses by the umpire, some on pitches that weren't close to being overturned and some on close calls that caught just enough plate.

If you’re keeping score of the ABS challenges at home, and I hope you’re not, the Phillies are all out of them.

Bryan De La Cruz just challenged a called 3rd strike in the 6th…and got it wrong.

If a pitch even clips the ABS zone, it’s a strike pic.twitter.com/pjvDHabNCn
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) February 21, 2026

So far this spring across MLB, 52% of challenged ball-strike calls have been overturned. The Phillies have gone 3-for-7 when their hitter challenges a call and 4-for-9 when their pitcher or catcher does so. Both rank in the bottom third of the league. But this is the time of year to try it out.

The Phillies haven't restricted anyone in spring training, but they will probably have stiffer rules, as all teams should, during the regular season.

ABS challenge alert!

The Phillies' first challenge of the ABS era is one you'll never see in the actual season

2 outs, nobody on, bottom of the first

The catcher, Rafael Marchan, challenges a 1-and-0 ball-2 call ... and gets it wrong

So one challenge left, 8 innings to go! pic.twitter.com/rPSDntiG5z
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) February 21, 2026

Interestingly, in the minor leagues, pitchers have been the least successful at challenging. There is a school of thought that they should just leave it to the catcher, especially if it's one as experienced as Realmuto. If it's Zack Wheeler or Aaron Nola, that's one thing. If it's a younger pitcher, it might be best leaving it to J.T.

"(Sunday), earlier in the game, there was one that was right on the edge and I halfway pulled my hand up, and then I remembered it was an 0-0 count to the first batter of the inning," Realmuto said. "So I was like, nah, it's probably not the time. But it ended up just clipping the zone, so I would have been right on it."