Juan Soto's decision to spurn the New York Yankees for the New York Mets was notable for a couple of reasons. Not only were the Mets able to beat the Yankees in a bidding war for a player the Yankees desperately wanted, but they landed a future Hall of Famer in the middle of his prime. This reality is a painful one for the Yankees to accept.
And the pain of losing Soto to the Mets might not even wear off for a while, with the ABS implementation being another reason for Yankees fans to be salty. Soto was named the player who will be the best at challenging balls and strikes by his fellow peers. Yes, even better than Aaron Judge.
Juan Soto's betrayal robs Yankees of incredible dynamic ABS duo
Some Yankees fans might not agree with this poll, and I don't fully blame them. Judge, a 6-foot-7 giant, often gets the short end of the stick on low strike calls. In fact, according to MLB.com, no hitter has had more called strikes against him on pitches out of the strike zone than Judge, who admitted he's excited for the new change.
“I’m excited for it,” Judge said. “I think it’s going to be a little weird, because I’m not an umpire. I’m a hitter. I’ve never been in the box trying to think about, ‘Is this a ball? Is that a strike?’ If I feel like I can hit it, I feel like it’s a strike.”
Soto's eye is ridiculously good, but so is Judge's. It really could be a coin toss regarding who is better. Whether Soto or Judge would end up benefiting more had the chance to be irrelevant because, again, they were once on the same team. While Soto and Judge were together, pitchers had the ability to nibble outside of the zone and potentially get lucky with calls from home plate umpires.
Now, though, it's nothing but another thing for the Yankees to be upset about regarding Soto. With all of that being said, as frustrating as it might be to never get the chance to see Judge and Soto challenging pitches in the same lineup, it's worth noting that the Yankees should be fine even without Soto in the ABS department.
Yankees thriving with ABS system far more than Juan Soto's Mets
Aaron Boone's Yankees have been ultra-aggressive when it comes to using the ABS system, and success has come with their aggression. They lead the majors in ABS challenge wins, and that's despite Judge playing in the World Baseball Classic for much of the spring.
ABS Challenges Won So Far
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 21, 2026
47 NYY
46
45
44
43
42 MIN
41
40
39
38 COL STL
37 CLE
36 CWS LAA CHC SEA
35 BOS SF MIA CIN
34
33 PHI
32 SD
31
30 TB ATL
29 ATH PIT
28 TOR MIL WSH
27
26 HOU
25
24 KC
23
22
21
20
19 TEX BAL DET
18 LAD
17 ARI
16
15
14 NYM
At the bottom of the list are Soto's Mets. Now, Soto, like Judge, played in the WBC, so take that with a grain of salt, and they haven't been as aggressive as the Yankees, but it's still worth noting.
The Yankees have the most successful ABS challenges in MLB this Spring Training
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) March 22, 2026
Both of Will Warren's first inning strikeouts happened on successful challenges, one by JC Escarra and one by Warren pic.twitter.com/3hdaFoXSWx
Whether Soto or Judge winds up leading the league in successful ABS challenges remains to be seen, but all Yankees fans can think of is how dominant their team would be relative to the rest of the league had they had Soto and Judge hitting back-to-back. The fact that they had that for a year without ABS involvement only makes it more painful.
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