Mariners still have an ABS problem, and it's making them miss a historic boat

The introduction of the ABS system this year has changed the game in a subtle yet very important way. Pitchers and hitters are no longer subject to the whims of a fuzzy umpire strike zone and can trust their own eyes to overturn incorrect calls, much to the delight of fans.

Overall, reception seems to be positive and it hasn't meaningfully lengthened the duration of games thanks to the limited amount of challenges per team. Aside from reducing the amount of arguments at the plate, it has contributed to a slight rise in walks across the league now that pitchers have a tighter zone to work with, but not every team has been taking advantage of this new feature of the game.

The Mariners lineup has been one of the least effective at utilizing ABS challenges

To gauge the effectiveness of this new system, Baseball Savant now includes a nifty leaderboard showing how each team has fared in terms of using challenges, both as hitters and as pitchers. On the defensive side, the Mariners have been the best in the business, racking up 13.8 overturns above expected largely thanks to Cal Raleigh's efforts behind the dish.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for their hitters. Entering Saturday, Seattle's batters had 10.0 overturns below expected, better than only the Colorado Rockies and Cleveland Guardians. A hitter can be ineffective at challenging in two ways. Either they challenge pitches that were clearly strikes, or they fail to challenge pitches that were clearly balls.

The Mariners have erred on the side of being too passive, especially in the case of Julio Rodríguez who hasn't challenged a single pitch despite several called strikes being outside of the zone. On the other side, you have Josh Naylor who has been one of the worst at using the new system. He has challenged more frequently than expected given the pitches he has seen, and has a win rate of just 33 percent.

Reaping the rewards of ABS could help compensate for the team's broader offensive struggles. The Mariners already have an impressive walk rate of 10.6 percent (8th in MLB) but getting more free passes and even getting ahead in counts is never going to be a bad thing.

There are signs that after a rough first month, the team is starting to defrost but it seems like they still haven't gotten used to the new ABS system just yet. Coming around to the wonders of the newfangled technology is just one of the offensive problems they need to rectify, but getting it right could pay dividends through the rest of the season.

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