Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-06-28
COL @ MIN
Home plate: Dan Merzel
“Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines.”
Umpire Grade
97.2% accurate
Run Favor
runs, COL
ABS Overturns
of 3 reviewed
What this shows — how Dan Merzel called the 106 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 103 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
- 1-0.19▼8 · 2-0 ball called strike
Kody Clemens vs Juan Mejia - 2-0.09▼7 · 0-0 ball called strike
Josh Bell vs Brennan Bernardino - 3-0.09▼8 · 0-0 ball called strike
Byron Buxton vs Juan Mejia
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 · 2 overturned (ump overruled) · 1 upheld (ump confirmed). This is Hawkeye ground truth, no model involved.
- 1Alex Jackson — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 2Braxton Fulford — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 3Braxton Fulford — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 1 of 3 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.