This Brewer is “wasting” more ABS challenges than any other hitter in MLB

The Milwaukee Brewers are seemingly always on the forefront of the next big thing in analytics. Anytime there's a marginal advantage to be had, the Crew are usually the ones exploiting it, often to great effect.

The ABS challenge system, however, has posed some difficulties for the Brewers thus far. They've won the fewest challenges in the league while on offense (11), and their 33% win rate is also the worst figure in MLB. Really the only saving grace is that they haven't shot themselves in the foot too many times, thanks to the fifth-lowest total of batter challenges (33).

That non-aggression applies to nearly everyone on the team... except for one, Gary Sánchez. The veteran backstop leads all of baseball with 16 batter challenges, which is three more than second-place hitter Nolan Schanuel. Unfortunately, "The Kraken" hasn't exactly been discerning with his eye to this point, as he's lost over half of his overturn attempts; in lockstep with that fact, he also leads the league in lost challenges (9) at the plate.

In short, his title of the worst ABS challenger of 2026 is an earned one.

Brewers must impart Gary Sánchez's ABS aggression on the rest of their lineup

You'll note that, given the numbers above, Sánchez has actually taken roughly half of the team's ABS challenges this year (hence why their success rate is so poor). Part of this may be due to the team's initial strategy of using red and green cards from the dugout getting banned during spring training, but it's also pretty evident that Brewers hitters just don't have a great feel for the ABS zone at the moment.

At least they've been far better on the other side of the ball, where their 35 overturns ranks fourth in the league (their 60% success rate only ranks 14th, though). And Sánchez has been a big part of that defensive effort, going 6-for-8 on ABS challenges as a catcher.

If there's another silver lining to this whole situation, it's that the ABS mishaps haven't prevented Sánchez from a torrid stretch at the plate. He's only hitting .203 with a 22.4% strikeout rate, but thanks to an elite walk total (18 in 98 trips to the plate) and some strong slugging numbers (.241 ISO), the 33-year-old backstop is sitting on a 131 wRC+ for the season.

The team may need to rein him in when it comes to tapping the helmet, though perhaps the real solution is simply giving more of their hitters the green light to challenge close calls. The law of averages suggests the Brewers have to start getting some of these reviews right eventually.

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