Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-08-04
LAA @ BAL
Home plate: Dan Merzel
“The zone had wings tonight.”
Umpire Grade
90.8% accurate
Run Favor
runs, LAA
ABS Overturns
of 2 reviewed
What this shows — how Dan Merzel called the 131 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 119 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+0.30▲7 · 3-1 strike called ball· challenged ✓
Wade Meckler vs Rico Garcia - 2+0.23▲4 · 0-2 strike called ball
Moisés Ballesteros vs Cade Povich - 3+0.23▲7 · 0-2 strike called ball
Moisés Ballesteros vs Rico Garcia
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
2 pitches went to the robots · 1 overturned (ump overruled) · 1 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Wade Meckler — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 2Wade Meckler — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 2 of 2 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.