The “robot umps” have finally arrived in Major League Baseball, and it will likely take some time for batters and pitchers alike to get used to the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System. Fortunately, the Cleveland Guardians already have someone who is very adept at using it.
Cooper Ingle is one of the Guardians’ top prospects, and as a catcher, he has a unique perspective on how the reviews work, both as a hitter and behind the plate. With this particular system having been used in the minors last season, Ingle showed how it can be a benefit in his 28 games at Triple-A.
Now, the young Guardians catcher could thrive as it is put into use in MLB this year.
“Cooper Ingle — a prospect who’s good as a catcher and a batter,” David Adler wrote. “Ingle is a Top 100 prospect entering 2026 who is also a challenge dual threat: He’s a good challenger at the plate as a batter, and a good challenger behind the plate as a catcher. Last season, the 24-year-old Guardians backstop won six of his seven challenges as a batter (86%), and eight of his 14 challenges as a catcher (57%). Overall, he was worth +9.2 Overturns vs. Expected (+4.0 as a batter, +5.2 as a catcher). He didn’t challenge much, but he was good at it, in both phases of the game where he was involved.”
Each team gets two challenges per game, and they can only be requested by the batter, the pitcher or the catcher. It must be made immediately by one of those players without any assistance from a teammate or the dugout. If a challenge is successful, meaning the ball-strike call is reversed, the team does not lose it.
This special skill alone will not be enough to get Ingle to the major leagues, but he has plenty of other things going for him that his debut could come as soon as this season. Already a non-roster invitee to spring training, it’s only a matter of time before he surpasses current Guardians catchers Bo Naylor or Austin Hedges.
Naylor is the better offensive player of the two, and his late-season improvement in 2025 has the Guardians expecting much more from him this season. Hedges is a reliable 12-year defensive-oriented veteran who has a lifetime batting average below .200.
Ingle has a .281 batting average with an .849 OPS in 230 minor league games. For a team starving for offense like the Guardians have been, they can’t afford to ignore that kind of production.
So, with that upside and his familiarity with the ABS system, it might not be much longer before Ingle puts both of those assets to good use in Cleveland.
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