New Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona plans to opt out of elective participation in the automated ball-strike challenge trial during spring training, but he is still willing to let the organization’s minor league players get accustomed to the system ABS is a system that is being tried out at 13 ballparks in spring training,

Francona sounds more interested in preparing the Reds for the season — his first as their manager — than helping add more data in an ABS test run.