Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-06-04
KC @ MIN
Home plate: Dan Merzel
“The zone kept its promises.”
Umpire Grade
96.5% accurate
Run Favor
runs, MIN
ABS Overturns
of 3 reviewed
What this shows — how Dan Merzel called the 169 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 163 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+0.23▼5 · 0-2 strike called ball
Austin Martin vs Seth Lugo - 2+0.13▼3 · 1-0 strike called ball
Brooks Lee vs Seth Lugo - 3+0.13▼6 · 1-0 strike called ball· challenged
Victor Caratini vs John Schreiber
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
3 pitches went to the robots · 1 overturned (ump overruled) · 2 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Austin Martin — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 2Carter Jensen — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 3Victor Caratini — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 2 of 3 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.