Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-08-17
“The zone shrank when the pitchers needed it most.”
Umpire Grade
94.2% accurate
Run Favor
runs, STL
ABS Overturns
of 5 reviewed
What this shows — how Nic Lentz called the 154 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 145 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+0.28▲6 · 1-2 strike called ball· challenged ✓
Masyn Winn vs Rhett Lowder - 2+0.23▲7 · 0-2 strike called ball
Iván Herrera vs Rhett Lowder - 3+0.13▲1 · 1-0 strike called ball
JJ Wetherholt vs Rhett Lowder
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 · 4 overturned (ump overruled) · 1 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Jose Trevino — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 2Jose Trevino — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 3Elly De La Cruz — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 4Sal Stewart — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 5José Fermín — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 3 of 5 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.