Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-08-05
“If it was close, it was a strike. The hitters noticed.”
Umpire Grade
91.3% accurate
Run Favor
runs, WSH
ABS Overturns
of 6 reviewed
What this shows — how Ron Kulpa called the 196 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 179 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
- 1-0.69▼7 · 3-2 ball called strike
J.T. Realmuto vs Yovanny Cruz - 2+0.30▲11 · 3-1 strike called ball
Dylan Crews vs Caleb Kilian - 3+0.23▼9 · 0-2 strike called ball
J.T. Realmuto vs Orlando Ribalta
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 · 0 overturned (ump overruled) · 6 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1J.T. Realmuto — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 2J.T. Realmuto — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 3Dylan Crews — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 4Harry Ford — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 5Kyle Schwarber — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 6Harry Ford — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 6 of 6 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.