Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-03-30
“A tilt to the evening — the numbers say which way.”
Umpire Grade
88.5% accurate
Run Favor
runs, BAL
ABS Overturns
of 5 reviewed
What this shows — how Ron Kulpa called the 156 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 138 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
- 1-0.39▲8 · 2-2 ball called strike· challenged ✓
Kyle Higashioka vs Rico Garcia - 2-0.30▲6 · 3-1 ball called strike
Wyatt Langford vs Dietrich Enns - 3+0.28▼2 · 1-2 strike called ball
Colton Cowser vs Jack Leiter
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
5 pitches went to the robots · 4 overturned (ump overruled) · 1 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Adley Rutschman — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 2Colton Cowser — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 3Wyatt Langford — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 4Kyle Higashioka — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 5Ryan Mountcastle — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 4 of 5 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.