Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-08-01
“If it was close, it was a strike. The hitters noticed.”
Umpire Grade
89.9% accurate
Run Favor
runs, NYY
ABS Overturns
of 6 reviewed
What this shows — how Ron Kulpa called the 158 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 142 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▼6 · 2-2 ball called strike
Pete Crow-Armstrong vs Max Fried - 2+0.28▼1 · 1-2 strike called ball
Pete Crow-Armstrong vs Max Fried - 3-0.21▼7 · 3-0 ball called strike
Seiya Suzuki vs Brent Headrick
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
6 pitches went to the robots · 3 overturned (ump overruled) · 3 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Max Schuemann — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 2Ali Sánchez — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 3Nico Hoerner — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 4Alex Bregman — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 5Angel Chivilli — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 6Carson Kelly — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 3 of 6 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.