STLtoday.com

ClassicO wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 16:34 pm

CCard wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 07:50 am

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:16 am Good morning.

Walker. I bet that name was most here first thought. Then Gorman.

Mt bet is on JJ. He has a mastery of the zone as it exists with umpires. Being novel, in its first year, he will master it from the get go, and might be even a better hitter.

Walker. Chases the outside slider. Will he adapt to the zone and lay off.

Gorman. Will he master and lay off the high stuff.

Dark hirses- Winn and Scott. Just imagine if their walks increase and hard hit ball rage increases.

Who best benefits from ABS.

Not being snarky so don't take this the wrong way dog, but I'd say they all will benefit from the atrocious calls from human umpires being reversed. As for individual players, a guy like Noot might benefit the most because he takes a lot of pitches. Every player that works the count would benefit more than a free swinger.

The umps have been over 90% accurate, according to the ABS studies.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/5-t ... hatgpt.com
Granted, the calls they get wrong are infuriating, but in 288 spring training games with ABS installed at 13 parks, 617 of 1,182 challenges were successful (≈52.2%). So, only when the call is bad enough to trigger a challenge, the umps win about half the time.

Over 90% accurate is still worse that automated balls and strikes. It's of little comfort when you team gets bounced in the playoffs because an umpire makes a bad call. Just ask the 85 Cards. Of course with replay that call would have been overturned and he would have been out. Only two outs to get and no one on base. The Cards would have won, they hadn't lost a game all year in that situation. Umpires can decide games, but they shouldn't.

CCard wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 07:50 am

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:16 am Good morning.

Walker. I bet that name was most here first thought. Then Gorman.

Mt bet is on JJ. He has a mastery of the zone as it exists with umpires. Being novel, in its first year, he will master it from the get go, and might be even a better hitter.

Walker. Chases the outside slider. Will he adapt to the zone and lay off.

Gorman. Will he master and lay off the high stuff.

Dark hirses- Winn and Scott. Just imagine if their walks increase and hard hit ball rage increases.

Who best benefits from ABS.

Not being snarky so don't take this the wrong way dog, but I'd say they all will benefit from the atrocious calls from human umpires being reversed. As for individual players, a guy like Noot might benefit the most because he takes a lot of pitches. Every player that works the count would benefit more than a free swinger.

This!!!!!

Absolut wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:30 am Unless it operates like pitch com and whispers “jordan don’t swing” it’s not helping with the chasing sliders problem.

Walker would still close his eyes and let er rip.

rage-STL wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 08:52 am

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 08:47 am

BrockFloodMaris wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 08:44 am

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:16 am Good morning.

Walker. I bet that name was most here first thought. Then Gorman.

Mt bet is on JJ. He has a mastery of the zone as it exists with umpires. Being novel, in its first year, he will master it from the get go, and might be even a better hitter.

Walker. Chases the outside slider. Will he adapt to the zone and lay off.

Gorman. Will he master and lay off the high stuff.

Dark hirses- Winn and Scott. Just imagine if their walks increase and hard hit ball rage increases.

Who best benefits from ABS.

Great question, Dog! I think this is a WIN-WIN-WIN. Pitchers will benefit from a standardized strike zone. The best ones will find a batter's weak spot and keep hitting it. Batters will benefit from accuracy and standardization, and the fans will win from getting a cleaner, quicker game.

Thanx sir. Good morning. Cleaner quicker, crisper game. More swings, more contact, more action.

Ivan Herrera's above average pitch framing stands to take a hit.

Ivan Herrera Stealing Strikes

I would think that the catchers that are bad at framing would benefit the most. The framing skills wouldn't be needed as much as they are now. I know it's only a few pitches a game, but you see these catchers sometimes sweeping to catch a pitch that is a strike and it is called a ball because they are catching it with a sweeping motion instead of the regular way. Like on a sweeping curve or slider.

The answer is easy.

Who knows the strike zone best among the returning players?

Donovan.

I was watching a video on cardinals territory and lance Lynn told a hilarious story about Matt carpenter would get called out on strikes and argue with the umpire and go back into the dugout and immediately him and Lynn would look at video and the pitch would clearly be a strike and he would tell carp it was a strike and carpenter would say “it still wasn’t a strike” lol

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:16 am Good morning.

Walker. I bet that name was most here first thought. Then Gorman.

Mt bet is on JJ. He has a mastery of the zone as it exists with umpires. Being novel, in its first year, he will master it from the get go, and might be even a better hitter.

Walker. Chases the outside slider. Will he adapt to the zone and lay off.

Gorman. Will he master and lay off the high stuff.

Dark hirses- Winn and Scott. Just imagine if their walks increase and hard hit ball rage increases.

Who best benefits from ABS.

No one.
A team will get 2 challenges per game - and that includes batters, pitchers, and catchers combined.
They retain a challenge if they win it.
The majority of challenges take place in the last 3 innings of a game.
Roughly 50% of challenges fail.
What does that mean?
One or 2 pitches called in an entire game might change.
9 batters.
The odds of any one player requesting a challenge is about 10% - and event that assumes his own teammates did not use one while in the field as a pitcher or catcher.
The odds of winning it are 50/50.
So there is a 1 in 20 chance - at best - of any one player changing any one pitch call in any one game.
And even then, there is zero guarantee of it changing the outcome of a PA - given the number of average pitches per PA and the average number of times getting on base per plate appearance - perhaps 1 around one in 6.
Therefore, the various factors involved might result in one more trip on base in every 125 or so PA's - and that is likely optimistic.

I think there may be more strikeouts and more walks.

I've always thought most umpires lean in favor of the batter in not calling strike three and lean in favor of the pitcher in not calling ball four.

I think Jordan Walker will benefit most. I think his height throws off the umpires and they give the pitcher an extra large zone against him.

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 08:03 am None. Won't change a thing, significantly

I'll take that bet.

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:16 am Good morning.

Walker. I bet that name was most here first thought. Then Gorman.

Mt bet is on JJ. He has a mastery of the zone as it exists with umpires. Being novel, in its first year, he will master it from the get go, and might be even a better hitter.

Walker. Chases the outside slider. Will he adapt to the zone and lay off.

Gorman. Will he master and lay off the high stuff.

Dark hirses- Winn and Scott. Just imagine if their walks increase and hard hit ball rage increases.

Who best benefits from ABS.

I’m going with Walker. I know he has a lot to prove but I’ve seen him rung up on several pitches that seemed below where his zone should be, but with his height, upright stance, and the umps typically seeing those pitches as strikes on most other batters, I think he had an unfair zone at times.

No denying he compounded the issue by becoming (understandably) less patient, frustrated, and less disciplined in his approach.

He should welcome the ABS as a fresh start with a more fair and definitive zone than he’s ever had. Here’s hoping anyway. He seems like a good kid, and we need the RH power. There’s not a player on this team that could be more impactful if he can bloom into the player he was projected to be.

Donovan and Burleson. Best at knowing the strike zone on this roster.

CorneliusWolfe wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 23:26 pm

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:16 am Good morning.

Walker. I bet that name was most here first thought. Then Gorman.

Mt bet is on JJ. He has a mastery of the zone as it exists with umpires. Being novel, in its first year, he will master it from the get go, and might be even a better hitter.

Walker. Chases the outside slider. Will he adapt to the zone and lay off.

Gorman. Will he master and lay off the high stuff.

Dark hirses- Winn and Scott. Just imagine if their walks increase and hard hit ball rage increases.

Who best benefits from ABS.

I’m going with Walker. I know he has a lot to prove but I’ve seen him rung up on several pitches that seemed below where his zone should be, but with his height, upright stance, and the umps typically seeing those pitches as strikes on most other batters, I think he had an unfair zone at times.

No denying he compounded the issue by becoming (understandably) less patient, frustrated, and less disciplined in his approach.

He should welcome the ABS as a fresh start with a more fair and definitive zone than he’s ever had. Here’s hoping anyway. He seems like a good kid, and we need the RH power. There’s not a player on this team that could be more impactful if he can bloom into the player he was projected to be.

Good write. If he hits we solve one big problem.

CCard wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 20:28 pm

ClassicO wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 16:34 pm

CCard wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 07:50 am

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:16 am Good morning.

Walker. I bet that name was most here first thought. Then Gorman.

Mt bet is on JJ. He has a mastery of the zone as it exists with umpires. Being novel, in its first year, he will master it from the get go, and might be even a better hitter.

Walker. Chases the outside slider. Will he adapt to the zone and lay off.

Gorman. Will he master and lay off the high stuff.

Dark hirses- Winn and Scott. Just imagine if their walks increase and hard hit ball rage increases.

Who best benefits from ABS.

Not being snarky so don't take this the wrong way dog, but I'd say they all will benefit from the atrocious calls from human umpires being reversed. As for individual players, a guy like Noot might benefit the most because he takes a lot of pitches. Every player that works the count would benefit more than a free swinger.

The umps have been over 90% accurate, according to the ABS studies.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/5-t ... hatgpt.com
Granted, the calls they get wrong are infuriating, but in 288 spring training games with ABS installed at 13 parks, 617 of 1,182 challenges were successful (≈52.2%). So, only when the call is bad enough to trigger a challenge, the umps win about half the time.

Over 90% accurate is still worse that automated balls and strikes. It's of little comfort when you team gets bounced in the playoffs because an umpire makes a bad call. Just ask the 85 Cards. Of course with replay that call would have been overturned and he would have been out. Only two outs to get and no one on base. The Cards would have won, they hadn't lost a game all year in that situation. Umpires can decide games, but they shouldn't.

I'm a huge fan of ABS and I'd have it as the sole mechanism. The umps' union won't let that happen but I'd rather have the consistency. If it's so good that it can overrule an ump's call, then they can't argue it's not good for 100% of pitches. And again, consistent and stops the challenge system (which is better than not using it).
My only point was -- the umps aren't wrong an inordinate % - but why screw with them at all?

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 12:32 pm

Absolut wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 08:19 am

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 08:06 am

sikeston bulldog2 wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 08:03 am

rage-STL wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 07:59 am

Absolut wrote: ↑28 Jan 2026 05:30 am Unless it operates like pitch com and whispers “jordan don’t swing” it’s not helping with the chasing sliders problem.

I remember Bader having a huge issue chasing sliders down and away. It took him a while to get it corrected, hopefully JW can get there.

Walker regardless Can only get better. I think he has bottomed out. Now if he would not chase, he’d be a stud with his hard hitting ability.

Maybe the zone, not giving away a cheap strike, constantly ahead in the count, will help.

Looking for any edge here.

Walker has yet to show any improvement, the more he plays.

Disagree. His mastery
Of the two strike timeout in unparalleled

It hasn't improved as he has always done it. It's the one thing I wish all the Cards would do...especially when a pitcher is dealing

When he watches Christmas Carol, he roots for Scrooge to stay the same,
He thinks old yeller has a happy ending,
He once saw a rainbow, and complained the sun was out.

He is the most bitter man alive.