Fever BaseballFor collectors and stat nerdsFuture Value Radar (FVR) · On the record
Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-04-28

KC @ ATH

Home plate: Sean Barber

The strike zone picked a side, and wasn't shy about it.

B+
Umpire Grade
93.0% accurate
1.3
Run Favor
runs, ATH
1
ABS Overturns
of 4 reviewed

What this shows — how Sean Barber called the 186 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 173 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

Challenge 1: Salvador Perez — the ump called it a ball, the robot ruled ball (upheld — ump confirmed).1Challenge 2: Jeff McNeil — the ump called it a strike, the robot ruled strike (upheld — ump confirmed).2Challenge 3: Nick Kurtz — the ump called it a strike, the robot ruled strike (upheld — ump confirmed).3Challenge 4: Lawrence Butler — the ump called it a strike, the robot ruled ball (OVERTURNED — ump overruled).4
strike called ballball called strikeABS overturnedABS upheld

The calls that moved the game

  1. 1-0.3910 · 2-2 ball called strike· challenged
    Lawrence Butler vs Lucas Erceg
  2. 2+0.301 · 3-1 strike called ball· challenged
    Nick Kurtz vs Kris Bubic
  3. 3+0.308 · 3-1 strike called ball
    Darell Hernaiz vs Matt Strahm

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 the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.

  1. 1Salvador Perez — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
  2. 2Jeff McNeil — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
  3. 3Nick Kurtz — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
  4. 4Lawrence Butler — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: 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.

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