Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-07-18
“Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines.”
Umpire Grade
93.1% accurate
Run Favor
runs, CLE
ABS Overturns
of 5 reviewed
What this shows — how Jim Wolf called the 159 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 148 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+0.39▼4 · 2-2 strike called ball· challenged ✓
Daniel Schneemann vs Khristian Curtis - 2+0.30▲6 · 3-1 strike called ball
Rafael Flores Jr. vs Franco Aleman - 3+0.13▼1 · 1-1 strike called ball· challenged ✓
Chase DeLauter vs Mason Montgomery
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 · 2 overturned (ump overruled) · 3 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Rafael Flores Jr. — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 2Rafael Flores Jr. — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 3Esmerlyn Valdez — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 4Rafael Flores Jr. — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 5Austin Hedges — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 5 of 5 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.