Justin Verlander earns unusual honor from fellow players as Tigers get used to ABS

While most Detroit Tigers fans are worried about whether Justin Verlander can remain effective at the age of 43, not many fans have probably spent much time worrying about how good he will be under the new ABS challenge system. Apparently, his peers think he will thrive under the new system. 

The anonymous survey resulted in Verlander receiving 10 votes when players were asked which pitchers will be best at ABS challenges. That was the most of any pitcher that received votes, but it does come with the asterisk that pitchers may not really challenge all that much under this new system.

Verlander seen as best pitcher under ABS but he may not even use it

Verlander challenged one call in spring training under the new system. It was overturned, so he is batting 1.000 when it comes to challenges.

A lot of experimentation was done with the new system in spring training as teams tried to figure out how it works, who is good at it, and what the best strategy should be. Every team will be different, but it seems like teams will probably be more conservative in how they use their two challenges, which are only lost if the call is upheld, in the regular season.

Saving them for critical situations late in the game, where a pitch could determine the fate of the game, seems like good times to use it. Just ask Team Dominican Republic how badly they would have liked a challenge in the World Baseball Classic.

If any pitcher is going to have the right to challenge as he sees fit, it is Verlander. The veteran is going to be enshrined in Cooperstown someday so he is going to have free reign to challenge.

A call would probably have to be pretty obviously blown for a pitcher to challenge it, but if it’s that obvious that the pitcher is tapping his cap then the catcher will probably already be challenging it. More than 20 years of big league experience has given Verlander a pretty good idea of what is and isn’t a strike, so don’t be shocked if he decides to steal himself a strike every now and then.

The Tigers as a team only challenged 16 times in spring training when they were the batting team, overturning just six of those 16 challenges. They had more success challenging on defense, as they were right 15 out of 24 times.

It will be interesting to see how often manager AJ Hinch allows his players to challenge. There will probably be some rules about when batters can challenge and the same goes for catchers, but Verlander will probably get to challenge whenever he likes to given the pedigree he brings to the mound.