Gary Sanchez challenged 14 called strikes this season, more than any other major league player, and won six of those appeals. The Brewers have already felt the effects, with several of their challenges squandered by Sánchez.
The numbers matter because catchers normally challenge called strikes far less often than players at other positions, and Sánchez has broken that pattern. His approach has helped make him the busiest challenger of called strikes in the majors, but it also raises the possibility that he is being asked to carry too much when he is not behind the plate and that he is testing the unwritten rules that usually govern catcher behavior at the plate.
That is the friction inside his season. Sánchez has been aggressive enough to stand out, but not successful enough to turn every challenge into an edge, leaving the Brewers with a player who can change a call and still cost a challenge in the process.
What comes next is simple enough to state and hard enough to manage: if Sánchez keeps pressing the issue, the Brewers will have to decide whether the upside of his challenge work outweighs the complications it creates.
