Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-05-16
TOR @ DET
Home plate: Dan Merzel
“The zone kept its promises.”
Umpire Grade
95.1% accurate
Run Favor
runs, TOR
ABS Overturns
of 4 reviewed
What this shows — how Dan Merzel called the 123 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 117 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▼3 · 1-2 ball called strike
Jake Rogers vs Spencer Miles - 2-0.19▼7 · 2-0 ball called strike
Wenceel Pérez vs Tommy Nance - 3+0.13▲7 · 1-1 strike called ball
Daulton Varsho vs Kyle Finnegan
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 · 3 overturned (ump overruled) · 1 upheld (ump confirmed). This is Hawkeye ground truth, no model involved.
- 1Kevin McGonigle — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 2Dillon Dingler — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 3Davis Schneider — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 4Brandon Valenzuela — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 1 of 4 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.