Padres notebook: Using or losing ABS challenges, Griffin Canning update

Use ’em or lose ’em.

That’s not exactly an emerging strategy for the new Automated Ball-Strike system, but it’s a guideline that the Padres are wrapping their heads around as they continue to get a feel for how to deploy challenges for this new strike zone.

“I’d like to see us finish the game with no challenges left,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said, “or at least challenge a little bit more.”

Entering Tuesday, the Padres were 2-for-3 challenging calls on offense and 3-for-5 challenging calls while in the field (all by catchers). While those numbers are especially conservative on offense — only one team has fewer offensive challenges — the whole idea is to save challenges for moments that can impact a game.

Such a moment arrived in the top of the ninth inning on Monday after Jake Cronenworth’s leadoff walk, but Fernando Tatis Jr. did not challenge the called strike on a 2-1 slider that appeared to land above the zone as reflected in MLB’s Gameday app.

The pitch didn’t end or extend an at-bat, but counts clearly matter to hitters. This year alone, hitters in a 3-1 count have a 1.518 OPS and hitters in a 2-2 count have a .442 OPS.

Tatis foul tipped the next pitch — a slider on the outside corner — into the catcher’s glove for a strikeout. Two batters later, Jackson Merrill homered to cut the Giants’ lead to 3-2, which ended up being the final score.

“I’m sure there were other pitches we could challenge, too,” Stammen said a day later. “But just like thinking (Tatis) specifically, one of our best hitters, arguably our best hitter, in a ninth-inning game where it doesn’t matter if you don’t get to keep the challenge for tomorrow, maybe it’s something that we can have a conversation about.”

Probably a lot of conversations.

After all, Stammen lamented that 30 games in spring training is hardly enough time for hitters to know all the ins and outs and do’s and don’ts and percentages. Ideally, the Padres want to make sure they have a challenge in the bag for Mason Miller in the ninth inning, but the most impactful moment of a game often arrives before the final inning.

The Padres have a color-coded sheet in the dugout similar to NFL coaches’ go-for-2 sheets, but it’s still a lot for a hitter to grasp in the moment of a heated at-bat, as Tatis was in the ninth inning against Giants closer Ryan Walker.

“There’s also a piece of these guys taking an at bat and not wanting some external circumstances to be thinking about, like, should I challenge this pitch or not?” Stammen said. “It’s more like, ‘I’m going to get a hit. I got to figure out a way to get on base.’ You’re battling those two like personas in their head. You want a clear mind, simple thoughts, but then we’re also asking them like, ‘No, you need to know the strike zone. No, you got a challenge too, and you got to do it immediately.’

“So there’s a give and a take with that.”

Notable

• RHP Griffin Canning (Achilles) threw three innings (about 50 pitches) in a simulated game on Monday in a workout at low Single-A Lake Elsinore. Canning had been scheduled to pitch this week in Tacoma for Triple-A El Paso, but inclement weather forced the shift to Lake Elsinore. His next appearance will be a rehab start on Saturday for Double-A San Antonio in Tulsa. “I feel like I just have to build up at this point,” Canning said. “I’m feeling pretty ready to go. … I think I’m probably further ahead than maybe what they first expected before I signed. Everything’s been going well.”