"I Will Never Challenge a Pitch" – What's the Over/Under on How Long Chris Sale Can Go Without Challenging a Strike?
For the first time this season, MLB players (pitchers, catchers, and batters) will have to ability to challenge balls and strikes. Teams are given 2 challenges per game. Like the NFL, successful challenges are retained. Braves' starting pitcher Chris Sale says he will NEVER personally issue a challenge.
With all due respect to a person who I would be pretty scared to cross in a dark alley, I'm inclined to set the over/under for Chris Sale's first issued challenge at 3 2/3 innings into his first regular season start.
On one hand, Chris Sale gave one more responsible level-headed takes I've heard in some time regarding the human element of officiating. In pretty much any sport, when a ref/umpire misses a call, people want him (or her) burned at the stake. They want the commissioner fired. They want more instant replay. They want the refs to be paid more money and given additional training so they miss less calls. All of which would probably work to some degree, but at the end of the day there's always going to be missed calls.
In that particular clip, Chris Sale seems incredibly understanding of that. He makes good points about how he's a starting pitcher, and he would hate to waste a challenge early in the game when they might need one in a more high-leverage situation later on. He talks about how great catchers are at framing pitches, to the point that they even fool him sometimes. So if anybody is going to challenge a pitch, he'll leave it up to his catcher.
On the other hand...
You mean to tell me that guy is going to be able to hold in a challenge call on a ball that he knows was 3-inches over the plate?
Ok maybe Chris Sale throwing a tempter tantrum in the locker room like a 7-year old (his words) is a bit of different thing. But the guy is a hot head. He's always been emotional. He's been known to do what some might call "impulsive" things.
Before Chis Sale's interview the other day, I would have had him pegged as a pitcher who couldn't fucking wait to challenge and ump. He strikes me as a guy who would love nothing more than to show up an umpire with indisputable video evidence.
If he's is able to stick to this word, it's gonna be quite the dynamic between pitcher and home plate umpire when Chris Sale is chewing him out for a missed strike yet refuses to challenge. If you're going to chew out an ump, it's kinda bullshit to not put your money where your mouth is with a challenge. If you're confident enough to show the guy up, you should be confident enough that you aren't going to lose a challenge for you team.
In the end, this could be all for naught, because issuing the challenge should probably be the responsibility of the catcher anyways. That is if Chris Sale has the ability to bite his tongue for longer than half-a-second after a call he disagrees with. But I'm not betting on that.