Cubs' Carson Kelly is the 'King of ABS'

The dawn of the ABS challenge system in Major League Baseball in 2026 has brought with it all new statistics.

Some players are good at challenging balls and strikes. Others aren't so good.

There's the additional nuance of challenges from the catcher as opposed to challenges from the hitter (and while pitchers can challenge, that's quite rare).

Someone has to be the best at this new stat, right? 

Yep, and it's Chicago Cubs catcher Carson Kelly.

ESPN's Bradford Doolittle, in a new article on Tuesday, called Kelly the "King of ABS."

Kelly has been lights out challenging behind the plate to help out his pitching staff.

"He's 21-4 in challenges while catching, an 84% success rate that Baseball Savant translates to 2.3 runs above expectation, far and away the highest total of any catcher, hitter or pitcher," Doolittle writes. "He is also one-for-one challenging as a hitter, which is worth another 0.3 runs."

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It's fun that Kelly has hardly challenged as a hitter. It essentially says that he wants to save those to use for his pitchers.

"If Carson Kelly were a team, his 2.6 runs above expectation for ABS challenges would rank seventh in MLB," Doolittle writes. "Who needs AI when we've got CK?"

It's hard to know whether this is a stat that could regress some to the mean, or if Kelly is simply so locked in on the ABS strike zone that he'll just keep getting challenges right, and not challenging when he's likely to be wrong.

It definitely makes sense that some guys would be better and some worse. Kelly clearly is adept at this.

And it really does add value for the Cubs. Kelly can wear this crown proudly.

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