Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-04-07
“Expanded the plate a touch past its 17 inches.”
Umpire Grade
93.3% accurate
Run Favor
runs, CLE
ABS Overturns
of 5 reviewed
What this shows — how Ben May called the 178 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 166 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
- 1-0.28▲5 · 1-2 ball called strike· challenged ✓
Bobby Witt Jr. vs Gavin Williams - 2+0.28▼8 · 1-2 strike called ball· challenged ✓
Kyle Manzardo vs Nick Mears - 3-0.19▲1 · 2-0 ball called strike
Maikel Garcia vs Gavin Williams
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 · 3 overturned (ump overruled) · 2 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Austin Hedges — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 2Rhys Hoskins — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 3Bobby Witt Jr. — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 4Salvador Perez — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 5Carter Jensen — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: 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.