How the Yankees and Mets are faring under MLB's new ABS challenge system

The All-Star break provides a natural reflection point for the MLB season.

The most notable change to MLB in 2026 has been the introduction of the automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system. While the novelty of ABS may have worn off through the first half of the season, its importance remains.

“It has really been successful,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday before the All-Star Game in Philadelphia. “And it's consistent with what we have done on replay generally, right? We never said we're going to get every single thing perfect. Perfection is a difficult thing for human beings to achieve.

“What we're trying to do with the challenge system is give a player or players the opportunity to revisit a call in a high-level situation. That's what replay is about. It's not every play. Same approach on ABS.”

He added that MLB is “letting the dust settle on the challenge system” for now as opposed to having every pitch automatically called by ABS.

The Mets (40-57) and Yankees (54-42) may be headed in opposite directions entering the second half of the season, but they both have benefited from ABS.

In MLB this season, 53% of the 6,040 overall ABS challenges have been overturned. Batters have succeeded on 48% of their challenges, while fielders have had more success at 58%. Here’s a look at how the Mets and Yankees stack up among the rest of MLB, based on the data available at Baseball Savant.

TEAM BATTING CHALLENGES

Yankees batters have won 51.4% of their challenges, the eighth-best mark in MLB, while Mets hitters have won 49.2%, the 12th best.

Mets hitters have challenged 120 times, more than any team in the National League and second in MLB behind the Twins’ 123. The Mets rank fourth among MLB offenses in challenges won (59) and lost (61). Their 5.8% challenge rate — the percentage of challengeable pitches that are challenged — is third in MLB. While they have eliminated just eight strikeouts on challenges, tied for the fourth fewest in MLB, they have gained seven walks, tied for the ninth most.

Yankees batters also rank near the top with 109 challenges, the seventh most in MLB. They have won 56, the fifth most in baseball, and lost 53, the ninth most. Their 5.0% challenge rate ranks seventh among MLB offenses. The Yankees have gained only four walks on challenges, tied for the fifth fewest, and eliminated 12 strikeouts, tied for the 14th most.

INDIVIDUAL BATTING CHALLENGES

A total of 33 New York players  have made at least one challenge this year: 16 Yankees and 17 Mets.

Using Baseball Savant’s model, which compares actual overturns to expected overturns, no one has been better than Yankees utilityman Max Schuemann.

Schuemann has six overturns more than expected by a player seeing identical pitches. That’s 1.5 more than the next-best local player, Aaron Judge. Schuemann leads MLB with a 100% success rate on six challenges, the most of any of the 50 batters with a perfect record.

The Mets’ Bo Bichette (3.6 overturns more than expected) and Juan Soto (3.0) and the Yankees’ Ryan McMahon (3.1) and Jose Caballero (2.7) each have fared well according to the model, too.

Soto and Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham each have had three strikeouts eliminated by successful challenges, the most among New York players. Soto, Caballero and Mets outfielder Carson Benge each have gained two walks by challenges, the most among Mets and Yankees.

The Mets’ Mark Vientos ranks among MLB’s leaders with 13 successful challenges (tied for third) and 23 total challenges (fifth). Caballero is up there, too, with 12 challenges won (tied for fifth) and 21 total challenges (tied for sixth).

Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s negative-4.5 overturns more than expected is the worst of any New York player. He’s won four challenges in 15 tries for a 26.7% win rate, the second worst in MLB among players with at least 15 challenges.

“It’s a kid’s game, you got to laugh at some things,” Chisholm said after a 12-4 win in Houston on April 24, when he had an egregious failed challenge. “Sometimes you just got to laugh at yourself and walk off. Did get fined $1,000, but it’s OK.”

The Yankees’ Cody Bellinger and the Mets’ Brett Baty each have won only one challenge in six tries; their 16.7% win rate is tied for the seventh worst in MLB among hitters who have made at least five challenges.

DEFENSIVE CHALLENGES

Most of the ABS challenges by fielders come from catchers, not pitchers, though both New York teams have been better challenging at the plate.

The Yankees have been around league average by winning 58.3% of their defensive challenges, the 17th-best clip in MLB, while the Mets have won 53.4%, the 22nd best.

The Yankees have made 120 defensive challenges — 113 by catchers and seven by pitchers — and challenged 2.7% of the time, both marks that rank seventh in MLB. They’ve won 70 defensive challenges, tied for the seventh-most in baseball, and lost 50, tied for the ninth most. The Yankees also have gained 18 strikeouts on challenges, tied for the 11th most with the Mets and two others, and eliminated six walks, tied for the 12th most.

Austin Wells has been the Yankees’ best active catcher with a 61.2% win rate (41 wins on 67 challenges). Ali Sanchez has a 47.4% win rate (nine wins on 19 challenges) and J.C. Escarra, currently with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, owns a 63% win rate (17 wins on 27 challenges).

The Mets have made 103 defensive challenges — the 16th most in MLB, with 96 made by catchers and seven by pitchers — and own a 2.1% challenge rate (17th in MLB). They have won 55 defensive challenges (tied for 19th most in MLB) and lost 48 (tied for 13th most). Some of their wins have been timely, though, with seven walks eliminated (tied for 10th most in MLB).

The Mets’ two active catchers have been below the league-average mark. Francisco Alvarez has a 51.1% win rate (23 wins on 45 challenges) and Luis Torrens has a 56.3% win rate (27 wins on 48 challenges).

Freddy Peralta leads all MLB pitchers with three challenges won and six challenges made. Peralta’s most recent challenge failed miserably, though, as it was on a pitch more than three inches high last Saturday — the worst challenge above the zone in all of MLB last week.

“It was on me, that one,” he said. “It was terrible.”

The only other New York pitcher to win multiple challenges is Max Fried, who has won two on three attempts. Only five MLB pitchers have won at least two challenges, and only 18 have made at least two, making it a rarity in the new ABS era.

Newsday’s David Lennon contributed to this story.