Sports Daily: Robot umps and Ronald Acuña Jr.

Take it away, pal.

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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Every Thursday, AJC columnist Ken Sugiura writes a big chunk of Sports Daily. This is that chunk.

❤️ My favorite thing that I learned during my week in North Port is that Grant Holmes still collects baseball cards. One morning, I saw him at his locker slipping a Chris Sale rookie card into a plastic sleeve (with plans for him to sign it), which led to a fun conversation about his hobby.

He still continues to buy cards by the pack (as opposed to buying individual cards from dealers) and told me he was trying to find the cards of his fellow pitchers and then was going to work on the hitters.

I love the idea that, whereas a child he was looking for cards of his favorite players, he’s now hoping to find cards of his teammates and friends. And that eventually, if he buys enough packs, he’ll open one and find his own card.

Holmes, who made his MLB debut last year after 10 years in the minors, is making a strong, strong bid to be a part of the starting rotation. Given that virtually no fan knew who he was a year ago at this time, who would have thought?

🤖 Another angle to the robot umpire debate: I asked catcher Curt Casali (a veteran who’s in camp on a minor-league contract) about the potential impact of the ABS (the electronic ball/strike challenge system that’s being tested in spring-training games this year) and how it could potentially reduce the value that catchers bring to the game with their ability to frame pitches.

He had clearly thought about this. On the one hand, he agreed, because the point of framing pitches is to convince umpires that a ball is a strike and ABS — by allowing batters (and pitchers or catchers) to challenge calls — can basically undo that. So that could mean that teams will value framing less and put more emphasis on offensive production.

But on the other hand, it’s going to put more pressure on catchers to know the strike zone with precision so they know when to challenge.

“Framing, you’re just trying to make it look like a strike,” Casali said. “ABS, you have to know. You have to know which one is a strike and which one’s not. I’m sure there’ll be ways that you can practice that on the side, but it’s just another thing that falls in the lap of a catcher.”

Adding to that, the catcher (who almost certainly will be the one making the challenge) has to decide immediately whether to challenge or not. And the team only gets two challenges.

On other reviews, the manager has time to get feedback and weigh the pros and cons of making a challenge. But not for the catcher with ABS.

“That’s what I’m saying,” Casali said. “It’s fast. It’s got to be on me.”

You thought it was a rule to make the game better. You probably didn’t realize it’s giving catchers anxiety.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

🤔 What I think about the Braves after a week writing columns and covering games: Probably part of it is that everyone is optimistic in the spring, but it’s hard to not like this team’s chances.

Spencer Strider sounds like he’s on track. Chris Sale may not have the same dominant season he did a year ago (Reynaldo López also), but why couldn’t Spencer Schwellenbach take a step forward? And, for whatever it’s worth, Holmes and Ian Anderson have looked really good.

Sounds like a pretty solid rotation.

And as long as the lineup can avoid the monsoon of injuries and that players who slumped a year ago can revert to form (namely Matt Olson), this should be a very good team once again.

I wrote a column about Ronald Acuña Jr. that went online Wednesday with some rather astounding observations from coaches and players. Obviously, no one’s going to say, “Yeah, he’s a shell of his former self.” But the difference between a perfunctory “he’s looking good so far” and what they actually said was noteworthy.

As far as what I mean by liking this team’s chances, particularly in regards to the National League East: I don’t know enough about how the Phillies and Mets are doing, but I don’t see why the Braves wouldn’t be in that mix. Yes, the Mets signed Juan Soto, but they won the same number of games as the Braves last year, and the Braves did that basically without arguably their two best players.

You never know, of course, but I’m eager to see how it shakes out.

Thanks for making it this far! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or suggestions. Always eager for both. Have a great Thursday.

Here’s Tyler again with a few more updates.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING …

Credit: Wade Payne/AP

Credit: Wade Payne/AP

Georgia men’s basketball dropped its late-night SEC Tournament opener against Oklahoma, 81-75. A 16-0 Sooners run late in the second half doomed the Bulldogs — who now await their NCAA Tournament fate.

Most projections suggest UGA will be a No. 9 or No. 10 seed when brackets are revealed Sunday night.

“We’d rather take this knock now than in the NCAA Tournament,” freshman Asa Newell said, “So we’ll use this as fuel for the fire and get back to it.”

🐝 Georgia Tech, meanwhile, handled its business against Virginia in the ACC Tournament. The reward? A noon tipoff today against heavily favored Duke and phenom Cooper Flagg. That’s on ESPN.

🦉 Also of interest: A red-hot Kennesaw State team commences Conference USA tourney action tonight against New Mexico State. Three wins gets the Owls a conference title and an invitation to the Big Dance.

FUN WITH NUMBERS

The Hawks beat the Hornets 123-110 on Wednesday night, extending their winning streak to four. Trae Young scored 35 points — and made all 21 of his free throws.

👀 That makes him just the sixth player in NBA history to take that many free throws in a game without missing.

QUICK HITS

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

The Atlanta Falcons took a full contingent to Georgia football’s Pro Day on Wednesday. Bulldog safeties Malaki Starks (shown above) and Dan Jackson showed out — and others even said nice things about potentially playing for the local NFL franchise!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.

Until next time.