Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-08-09
“The zone showed up, did the job, and went home. Ideal.”
Umpire Grade
95.6% accurate
Run Favor
runs, BOS
ABS Overturns
of 3 reviewed
What this shows — how Ron Kulpa called the 137 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 131 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▼3 · 3-2 ball called strike· challenged ✓
Willson Contreras vs J.T. Ginn - 2-0.69▲8 · 3-2 ball called strike
Tyler Soderstrom vs Garrett Whitlock - 3-0.30▼3 · 3-1 ball called strike
Willson Contreras vs J.T. Ginn
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 the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Jonah Heim — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 2Eli White — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 3Caleb Durbin — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 2 of 3 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.