Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-04-21
HOU @ CLE
Home plate: Derek Thomas
“An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much.”
Umpire Grade
95.0% accurate
Run Favor
runs, HOU
ABS Overturns
of 4 reviewed
What this shows — how Derek Thomas called the 181 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 172 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▼3 · 3-1 strike called ball
Daniel Schneemann vs Ryan Weiss - 2+0.28▲3 · 1-2 strike called ball
Brice Matthews vs Parker Messick - 3+0.28▲9 · 1-2 strike called ball· challenged
Jose Altuve vs Cade Smith
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 · 2 overturned (ump overruled) · 2 upheld (ump confirmed). This is Hawkeye ground truth, no model involved.
- 1Austin Hedges — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 2Yainer Diaz — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 3Yainer Diaz — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 4Bo Naylor — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 2 of 4 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.