Guardians fans should be excited about how team is handling ABS system in spring

Even though the Guardians have struggled to get some offense out of the catcher position, their pitching batteries have long been considered to be among the league’s best when it comes to defense and game-calling. 

For the longest time, one of the best ways to measure that was team ERA and pitcher ERA with a specific catcher. But the 2026 season will include a new measurement of catcher success via the Automated Ball-Strike. 

While the ABS system has been tested in the minors in previous seasons and was used in big league spring training last season, the 2026 season will mark the first time it’s been used in MLB games that count. 

And, based on the early returns from Cleveland’s first week of spring training games, it seems like the Guardians are going to be a big beneficiary from the new ABS system. 

The Guardians took advantage of the new Automated Ball-Strike system in the first weekend of spring training 

The Guardians’ first use of ABS this spring came against the Reds in their spring training opener when catcher Austin Hedges challenged a Joey Cantillo pitch that was called a ball. The pitch ended up getting changed to a strike, and Cantillo recorded a strikeout. 

A little later in the afternoon, Guardians catcher Cooper Ingle challenged a pitch during his sixth inning at-bat in Cleveland’s other game against the Brewers.

The pitch (which was initially called a strike) was changed to a ball and Ingle ended up hitting a big home run later in the at-bat. 

While the system may be new to some of the Guardians’ older players, Ingle used the system in the minors last season and trusted himself to challenge the call. 

“I had a month in (Triple-A) Columbus last year with the challenge system to get used to it,” Ingle said, per Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes. “It was one of those leverage counts to get me back into the advantage. To even that count was huge for me. It was one of those 50-50 pitches, and it was a good time to use it.”

Although pitchers can also challenge calls, manager Stephen Vogt has previously said that he only wants his hitters and catchers to challenge calls, and both Ingle and Hedges showed the benefits that can come from that. 

Hedges is widely regarded as one of the best defensive backstops in all of baseball and finished last season in the 95th percentile in pitch framing.

Hedges has stolen numerous strikes throughout his career with his pitch framing, and he should be able to do much more than that now thanks to the ABS system. 

The Guardians also have plenty of hitters on their roster with strong eyes at the plate, and the early returns on their use of ABS in camp were promising as well. 

The 2026 MLB season will look plenty different because of that system, and the Guardians seem like one of the main beneficiaries of that system.