Umpire’s ABS nightmare: Bill Miller has 8 pitches challenged, each one overturned

By the end of Friday’s 10-8 win over the Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds were celebrating, Chicago was reeling with deep questions about its bullpen, and home plate umpire Bill Miller was left wondering where everything went wrong.

That’s because the 27-year veteran umpire and crew chief went 0-for-8 on ABS challenges, three by the Reds and five by the Cubs. Just nine plate appearances into the Friday matinee, Miller was charged with his first ABS challenge, on an 0-1 four-seamer from Cincinnati starter Rhett Lowder on the corner that should’ve been called a strike.

By the end of the ninth inning, eight in all were called, all overturned. Of those eight, only two were initially called strikes.

Cubs catcher Carson Kelly challenged four pitches, and Reds backstop Jose Trevino had two calls overturned. Each team had one successful challenge from a batter, the Reds’ Sal Stewart and the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki.

None of the challenges were initiated by Cincinnati backstop Tyler Stephenson, whose 88 overturns on 124 challenges lead all of baseball. Stephenson and Brewers catcher William Contreras are the only two players with at least 80 successful challenges this season.

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time this season that Miller has drawn the ire of the Reds.

In the seventh inning of a mid-July game, Reds second baseman Edwin Arroyo ran into Miller while trying to field a grounder, leading to an extended inning for Caleb Ferguson. The left-hander did not take too kindly to Miller impeding his defense and the Mariners’ broadcast caught Ferguson’s expletive-filled tirade.

The very next day, Ferguson apologized for his actions, noting that he would seek out Miller to make things right.

“It’s just a very unprofessional thing on my part,” Ferguson said. “I know these things happen in the game, but I don’t like that I was kind of the centerpiece of what was going on.”

Using data gleaned from TapToChallenge.com, a website that tracks Automated Ball-Strike developments, Friday’s game at Wrigley Field is believed to be the worst since MLB introduced the ABS challenge system this season, as none of the eight challenges raised against Miller stood as called.

Even so, the distinction for the most challenges overturned against an umpire belongs to Clint Vondrak. In a June 8 game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Athletics, Vondrak faced 16 challenges and 11 were overturned (five from Milwaukee and six from the Athletics).

Miller can rest easy knowing that he did not set the record for most overturns in a game — he’s tied with Andy Fletcher, who had eight overturns in an April 1 game between the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals.

To his credit, Miller only ranks ninth in total number of calls overturned with 70. Hunter Wendelstedt, Dan Iassogna, Malachi Moore, Lance Barrett and Manny Gonzalez, in that order, lead the league in total number of overturned challenges.

“These umpires have a really, really, really difficult job,” Reds rookie Sal Stewart told The Athletic at the All-Star Game. “I only have to know my zone; they need to know the whole league’s zone. … I just want to say, man, the umpires have done a great job. This system, it’s not easy. They have to know a lot of people, different heights.”