Sal Stewart Leads MLB With 30 ABS Challenges and 20 Overturns
Sal Stewart leads MLB with 30 ABS challenges, and 20 of those calls were overturned for a 66.7% success rate. The 22-year-old Cincinnati Reds rookie has paired that volume with a season-long free pass rate of 12.8%, even as his bat cooled after a fast start.
Sal Stewart and the ABS edge
Stewart’s 30 challenges sit 11 ahead of Gary Sanchez, who has 19. That gap is the clearest measure of how often the Reds rookie has used the Automated Ball-Strike system, and it has made him the league’s most active challenger by a wide margin.
His 20 successful overturns also put the number in sharper focus. A 66.7% success rate, or 67% when rounded, is not a small sample fluke at this point; it shows that he is not just asking for more reviews, he is winning them at a high clip.
Stewart’s bat cooled in June
The challenge totals land against a different trend at the plate. Stewart had a.711 OPS in May, then posted a.577 OPS over the first half of June, a drop that lines up with the slump that followed his hot start.
That split gives the ABS numbers more context. Plate discipline has been a hallmark of his minor league career, and his 12.8% free pass rate this year is higher than the 5.2% walk rate he posted during his 18-game September call-up last year. The profile points to a hitter who is still finding ways to reach base while his overall production has dipped.
Gary Sanchez and the gap
Gary Sanchez is the only player named in the chase behind Stewart, and he is still 11 challenges short. For a rookie to lead the majors in both volume and success rate at the plate, while also working through a June slump, is the clearest sign of how often he has been in the middle of close strike-zone calls.
For the Reds, the practical takeaway is simple: Stewart is already shaping games beyond hits and homers. His challenge numbers show a hitter who is forcing repeated decisions from the ABS system, and his June OPS slide is the part that will keep those plate appearances under a brighter spotlight.
