Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-03-28
“A steady night's work behind the plate.”
Umpire Grade
92.8% accurate
Run Favor
runs, HOU
ABS Overturns
of 4 reviewed
What this shows — how Ben May called the 193 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 179 right. Below, only his misses are plotted, alongside every pitch the ABS (Automated Ball-Strike System) reviewed on a challenge.
The zone, as he called it
strike called ballball called strikeABS overturnedABS upheld
The calls that moved the game
- 1-0.30▼6 · 3-1 ball called strike
Jose Altuve vs Walbert Ureña - 2-0.28▲8 · 1-2 ball called strike
Yoán Moncada vs Bryan King - 3+0.23▼4 · 0-2 strike called ball
Christian Walker vs Reid Detmers
Run impact from the count run-value table: a missed strike three is worth far more than one on 3-0.
ABS — the Automated Ball-Strike System
4 pitches went to the robots · 1 overturned (ump overruled) · 3 upheld (ump confirmed). This is Hawkeye ground truth, no model involved.
- 1Jose Altuve — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 2Nolan Schanuel — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 3Cam Smith — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 4Mike Trout — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 3 of 4 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.