Just past the midway point of its first year of inclusion in every Major League Baseball game, the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System has brought around an unintended silence from dugouts around the league.

Eliminating the dugout’s chirping at the umpire that has been part of baseball since its inception may not be why ABS was originally created, but the constant talk directed at the umpire that used to be a part of every game has gone away thanks to one simple sentence.

If you don’t like a call, challenge it.

With the ABS in place, it’s not that easy. After all, each team gets two challenges to begin the game and loses a challenge each time their challenge fails. Also, only batters, pitchers or catchers may initiate a challenge. Managers have no direct power here, although the art of suggestion can be strong at times.

Although ABS challenge options may be limited, the technology has certainly become a part of today’s game. Heading into Tuesday’s play, 5,256 challenges had been initiated this season. Of those, 53% of the original calls from the umpire were overturned.

Those demanding robot umpires oversee every call use the small majority as their “told you” moment. However, the majority of players and managers I spoke with around the league told me while they are glad there is a challenge system, the numbers also show that today’s umpires are proving their worth with every correct call.

“The umpire’s job is already hard enough,” Colorado’s Troy Johnston said. “As much as I’ve talked to the umpires, they’re great human beings. I would never want their job because they have to deal with so many things that we don’t even think about on the player side.”

Heading into Tuesday, Johnston was 0 for 6 on ABS challenges this year, part of Colorado’s overall 40% challenge rate as batters (in 92 challenges). That’s tied for the third-worst mark in all of baseball.

The Houston Astros lead MLB with a 60% success rate on their 100 challenges.

Although Colorado may struggle at the plate, on the flip side, Hunter Goodman isn’t just putting up All-Star numbers with his bat, but also with his eye as a catcher.

Of the 67 challenges he has instigated this year as a catcher, he has won 44 of them. Fourteen of those wins have resulted in a called third strike for the batter, putting Goodman third in the league in the +K flip category.

“This is the first year with ABS, so there’s no comparison to last year, but he’s been one of the best performers in the ABS system,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said of Goodman.

While no one wants to strike out, not using the challenge system freely takes a team approach. Some individual at-bats early in the game that may not have a lot riding on a challenge take a backseat to a ninth-inning situation where a team that has no challenges could have a rally snuffed out by a ball that was outside the strike zone but still called a strike.

“I think there is leverage situations on both sides of the ball that you need to use ABS,” Schaeffer said. “I think game state matters. If you’re winning later in the game, you want to have some defensive challenges. There’s leverage on both sides of the ball, especially in one-run games.”

Across MLB, the fielding team has fared much better with challenges this season, overturning 58% of the calls while batters have only had 48% of their challenges overturned.

Colorado is tied for ninth among MLB’s 30 teams with a 62% win on challenges from behind the plate or on the mound. The Cincinnati Reds lead with 71% while the Pittsburgh Pirates are the worst at 44%.

Whatever the numbers, having ABS as an option has been a hit with players and coaches for not only the accuracy and the lack of chirping, but also the drama it brings to the game.

“The best thing about the ABS is how the crowd reacts when there’s a challenge,” Johnston said. “You see it in football. You see it in tennis. You see it in all these different aspects, and I think the crowd reaction is the best. All of a sudden, there’s a pause in the game and then you know there’s either going to be a boo or a yay. I think that’s awesome.”