John Smoltz's take on Walker calling for an ABS challenge is awful It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that your chances of reaching base are drastically lower in a pitcher's count versus a hitter's count Someone, please, get him off the broadcast

John Smoltz: "its only strike one" also John Smoltz: "getting strike one is so important"

And yet he still struck out looking. I’m with Smoltz. 6th inning with no one on base and an 0-0 count down by two is a non-deterministic situation and shouldn’t be a opportunity to challenge a strike, regardless of if it was overturned or not.

That made zero fucking sense. I heard it live and was like, “What the fuck is he talking about?”

I’ll let the stats speak for themselves.

Smoltz is sorta right that challenging 0-0 isn’t worth it, however, if a pitch is greater than 2” wrong then you can justify challenging at any time. So, at 1.9” is it a bad challenge? Maybe having a good hitter hitting makes it worth it.

If it’s a millimeter outside maybe Smoltz has some kinda point - but this is 2 inches off the plate! Walker knows the zone, and Smoltz should give him credit.

It doesn’t make mathematical sense to use a challenge in such a low leverage situation like this. You only get three of them, max. From a purely statistical perspective, Smoltz is correct. It’s inarguable. That doesn’t mean the gamble of a low leverage play won’t sometimes pay off though.

What he is saying is valid, one strike is one strike, juice isn’t worth the squeeze save it for a bigger moment

Smoltz comes off as a grumpy old man stuck behind the times so often. I don’t get his appeal.

Not to mention it was 2 inches off the plate and hopefully it helps the ump get future calls right. If it was millimeters off the plate then sure, thats a risk, but 2 inches is noticeable and as you also said, big difference between 1-0 and 0-1

I get what hes saying. Dont think he could tell how far out it was. But you get 2 challenges. Understanding when to use them is going to become a skill/nuance assuming is what is getting at

He said Herrera was “emotional” calling for one in the first inning as well. Herrera was right btw.

in the first inning it was unbearable, i turned off the broadcast after the first he was just whining about Herrera using that ABS challenge

Smoltz was a top shelf pitcher. Egotistical, third tier broadcaster. He just loves to hear himself talk..

He couldn’t even finish his sentence because he knew he sounded dumb as piss

this is such a moronic take! you don't lose the challenge if you're right... does he know that??

as someone who is newer to following the sport of baseball perhaps the most shocking thing I've noticed is how negative baseball fans are about their own teams but also, how much they hate Smoltz. I literally never saw that coming.. fwiw as a casual, I like Smoltz

I think you have to remember Smoltz is a pitcher....and is looking at this through that lens....and as a Pitcher he sees those challenges as his challenges and if a hitter screws a Pitcher/Catcher out of "their" challenges....in low leverage situations they will probably have words...and the coaches will most certainly side with the Pitcher/Catcher...

He was very bad tonight. He was just whiny about it the whole broadcast, and both teams were perfect the entirety of the game!

Smoltz has become kinda miserable to listen to. He went on and on about rule changes for pitchers and injuries. Talked about bad challenges. That was a good challenge. Better to be up 1-0 in the count vs 0-1. It was clearly outside when I saw it live. Wasn’t even borderline

Love how Smoltz so quickly alibis his bullshit take.

"even though you get it right" the stutter says it all 😂😂

Dude has been old man yells at clouds for a decade straight

What a moron…

The difference between 0-1 and 1-0 is mesmerizing. This broadcaster is a dumb ass. Why would a hitter rather be behind then ahead in a count??? Make that make sense.

Smoltz is awful. All you needed to say. Ruins watching a game. Mute required.

Go watch Ronald Acuna’s challenges and you’ll get the sentiment he’s trying to relay. Just so happens it was a ball this time. I think you’ll see over the course of the year that some guys simply have a great idea of the strike zone, both while hitting and catching.

He complained every time the cardinals challenged (and got them all right).

Fox needs to cancel all these mfs … Smoltz , Davis so fucking boring

He’s just a negative jackoff

He sounds like a dumbass that thought walker was wrong but smoltz got proven wrong pretty quick so he went into defensive mode and started just making up shit

💯 I cant stand him anymore. This was my take from the 1st inning on. 🤡 wish there was option to mute the broadcast n just hear the stadium like what happened in the 7th.... That would be legit.

I think it's just because he was part of those Braves teams where he benefited so much from getting 2 and sometimes 3 inches off the plate called a strike all the time.

Smoltz has been bad for a long time now