Yankees' ABS saga is becoming a major issue for a team that claimed it'd be the best

The New York Yankees had an ABS strategy that they were confident in. From Opening Day through April 2, they were both the second-most aggressive team and the second-best success rate in the majors. They believed it was sustainable; however, in short time their efficiency has fallen off a cliff.

Aaron Boone stressed taking advantage of opportunities. “Our guys being, I think, good at it. I think we’ve kind of established that we want to be aggressive with it. Smartly, but aggressive," he said ahead of the Yankees' April 3 home opener, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.

At that point in time, the Yankees were 13-for-16 in ABS challenges, good for an 81.3% success rate. They were annoyingly good at it, and foolishly made everyone aware as they continuously barked at umpires after challenging and forcing their calls to be overturned.

Now, though, they are no longer rolling. Yankees hitters are still among the most aggressive at challenging calls, but they are no longer efficient. Overall, they've challenged 31 times, still the second-most in MLB, but have converted 14, good for a 45% success rate. Seventeen teams rank ahead of them in success rate.

On the other hand, when New York is in the field, their pitchers and catchers have challenged just 19 times. That's the ninth-fewest challenges in the league, but they've won 12 of them (and it's been much better as of late).

Yankees' ABS challenge nosedive proves the wrong guys are being aggressive

Yankees' pitchers and catchers are doing just fine, but when it comes to the bats, there are a few guys who need to be reigned in, and maybe a couple who could stand to be more aggressive.

The poster child to benefit from this new system is Aaron Judge, who proved the system's worth with an eagle-eyed contest of a Robbie Ray pitch in San Francisco that missed the zone by just 0.1 inches. Umpires have historically struggled with tall hitters and the low strike prior to ABS, and at six-foot-seven, Judge is as tall as they get. Yet, Judge has issued (and won) just one other challenge so far.

Like Judge, Giancarlo Stanton's frame indicates he'd likely be successful on low-strike challenges, though depending on where you look, he's shrunk an inch, going from being listed at six-foot-six for most of his career to being listed at six-foot-five now. Still, he's plenty big to have a problematic strike zone, but he's only challenged one pitch this season (and was proven correct).

Jose Caballero has challenged the most calls with seven, converting four of them. Ben Rice has challenged frequently, too. He's got four, including one that may or may not have been intentional, but he's only been right once.

Other culprits have been Jazz Chisholm Jr., who has gone 1-for-5, as well as Cody Bellinger (1-for-3) and Austin Wells (0-for-2). Trent Grisham, who is walking at a 22.4% clip, has been the rare player who has been both aggressive and effective, going 3-for-5.

The answer here is clear. The smaller guys and the more peripheral players need to curb their enthusiasm, and the big-time hitters (both physically and metaphorically) need to be a little less bashful when it comes to calling out the missed calls. If the Yankees do that, they'll be back into positive territory here.

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