Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-05-14
“The zone kept its promises.”
Umpire Grade
96.0% accurate
Run Favor
runs, CWS
ABS Overturns
of 5 reviewed
What this shows — how Ben May called the 149 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 143 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+0.20▲1 · 2-1 strike called ball· challenged ✓
Salvador Perez vs Anthony Kay - 2+0.13▼8 · 1-0 strike called ball
Luisangel Acuña vs Lucas Erceg - 3+0.09▲1 · 0-0 strike called ball
Nick Loftin vs Anthony Kay
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.
- 1Edgar Quero — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 2Salvador Perez — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 3Maikel Garcia — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 4Nick Loftin — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 5Edgar Quero — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
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.