Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-04-12
AZ @ PHI
Home plate: Dan Merzel
“The zone kept to itself — the hitters said thanks.”
Umpire Grade
92.2% accurate
Run Favor
runs, AZ
ABS Overturns
of 5 reviewed
What this shows — how Dan Merzel called the 153 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 141 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▼9 · 1-2 ball called strike· challenged
Justin Crawford vs Paul Sewald - 2+0.20▲4 · 2-1 strike called ball· challenged
Jose Fernandez vs Andrew Painter - 3+0.20▲8 · 2-1 strike called ball
Geraldo Perdomo vs José Alvarado
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 · 1 overturned (ump overruled) · 4 upheld (ump confirmed). This is Hawkeye ground truth, no model involved.
- 1James McCann — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 2Rafael Marchán — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 3Rafael Marchán — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 4Geraldo Perdomo — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 5Justin Crawford — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 2 of 5 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.