Trea Turner had some fun with ex-teammate, Max Scherzer, on the first pitch of the game on Sunday.
Scherzer’s Toronto Blue Jays were hosting Turner’s Philadelphia Phillies in a spring training game at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla. Scherzer threw a first-pitch strike on the outer part of the plate that Turner declined to swing at to begin the game. Though he did not swing, Turner did do something else — he immediately tapped the top of his head. That was Turner’s way of signaling he wanted to utilize the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system to challenge the strike call. Turner stared out at Scherzer and gave a grin after challenging the pitch.
"Can’t we just be judged by humans?" – Max Scherzer last week on MLB's ABS challenge system
— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) March 3, 2025
Trea Turner requests a challenge on the first pitch he sees 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/QKDYs3dtaM
“Trea had me rolling,” Scherzer said with a laugh during an interview with Foul Territory Monday.
Scherzer said he figured Turner would swing at the pitch, but then figured out what was going on.
“Trea had me rolling,” Scherzer said with a laugh during an interview with Foul Territory Monday.
What’s the background? Scherzer was critical of the ABS system last week. The veteran pitcher argued in favor of the “human element.”
“Can’t we just be judged by humans?” Scherzer asked.
Turner was aware of Scherzer’s comments and had some fun with his former Nationals and Dodgers teammate.
In his interview with Foul Territory, Scherzer shared his argument in favor of the human element of having umpires. It sounds like Scherzer likes the ability pitchers have to take advantage of umpires — an advantage they lose when being graded by machines.
"You want to hit your spot. The electronic strike zone doesn't view it that way."
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) March 3, 2025
Max Scherzer fears the ABS challenge system will remove too much human element from the game. pic.twitter.com/gKyP0XPERU
Some think that Scherzer’s dislike of the challenge system stems from him getting a call wrong last week.
Max Scherzer got his first ABS challenge wrong and decided he’s gonna hate it forever pic.twitter.com/R3JBOecGFn https://t.co/Eav66cRr7B
— Goldschmidt Happened (@GoldyHappens) February 25, 2025
Scherzer, 40, is in his first season with Toronto. He made just 9 starts last season with the Texas Rangers.
