MLB's robot umps are a wild card for Mariners RHPs George Kirby, Bryce Miller

The Automated Ball-Strike System is coming to MLB this year, and this much is certain for the Seattle Mariners: The robot umps aren't ready for Cal Raleigh. From what we saw last spring, he knows how to challenge a call.

So, shoutout to George Kirby for having the right idea for how to go about using the ABS in 2026. He was asked about it in a media scrum on Wednesday, and the part that stood out was him saying he was just going to trust Raleigh, who "knows the zone better than anybody."

To be clear, this is the right way to approach the ABS for all Mariners pitchers. But for Kirby, especially, the new ball-strike challenge system could be particularly beneficial.

As for why, here's a data point that is equal parts telling and unsurprising: Out of all Seattle starters, Kirby got the highest rate of his strikeouts from called third strikes in 2025. It's one of many reflections of his excellent command, yet there's reason to believe there's more to be gained there.

The ABS challenge system could be a boon to George Kirby and Bryce Miller

Kirby is more of a decent strikeout pitcher than a great one. He's fanned less than one batter per inning throughout his four-year career, and even his career-best 26.1 K% from last season was only in the 76th percentile among all pitchers.

As Yahoo Sports' Jordan Shusterman pointed out during an interview on Seattle Sports, a proper swing-and-miss pitch would help Kirby find more punchouts. He has multiple pitches that can do the job, but nothing akin to, say, Logan Gilbert's splitter.

However, Kirby's pitch mix may be an "it is what it is" sort of thing. He technically throws six pitches, but the last couple of seasons have seen him lean more toward his four-seamer, sinker and slider as his primary offerings. It's his way of going all-in on pounding the strike zone — among starters with at least 600 innings, he ranks third in Zone% since 2022.

Unsurprisingly, the looking strikeouts that Kirby loves so much come overwhelmingly on pitches on the edge of the strike zone. And he doesn't get as many gifts as you'd think. Of the 38 called third strikes he got in 2025, 31 were on actual strikes in the zone.

Still, even Kirby fell victim to a bad call here and there, including seven missed third strikes. If all seven had gone his way, well, that's nice stat-padding if nothing else.

Granted, Kirby also got 52 gift strikes from umpires on pitches outside the zone last season. But this is a case where the worry of losing those should be relatively muted.

Last spring, hitters had a smaller success rate on challenges (50.0 percent) than pitchers and catchers (54.4 percent). They just don't see the zone in real time as well, and teams are sure to have strict rules for which hitters can challenge pitches, and when.

Because he has a higher rate of looking strikeouts than even Kirby over the last three seasons, all of the above also applies to Bryce Miller. He is likewise primarily a fastball pitcher without a go-to pitch for whiffs, with the main difference being that his command isn't quite as sharp as Kirby's. Indeed, Kirby stands alone among all MLB starters according to one metric.

Again, whether it's Kirby, Miller, Gilbert, Bryan Woo or Luis Castillo, the ABS strategy should be the same for all Seattle hurlers in 2026. As much as they might want to trust their gut when there's a challenge situation, a better idea is to trust Cal to make the call.