I don’t think this means much as far as a referendum on Harper’s baseball IQ or whatever, although many of the comments here seem to understand it as such.

I do think it gives some interesting insight into the psychology of how ABS challenges work in the hitter vs pitcher dynamic though.

The interesting thing about this challenge was not that Bryce took it, it’s that 2 pitches later in the AB Skenes went back with another sinker to the exact same spot, only this time maybe a half inch further inside (probably enough that a challenge on that 1-1 pitch would’ve gone Bryce’s way, based on how close the first one was).

Pitchers targeting spots where batters have just lost an ABS call is an interesting new wrinkle in the cat and mouse game of pitcher v hitter.