Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-08-18
“Two dugouts, and only one of them smiling.”
Umpire Grade
94.2% accurate
Run Favor
runs, SD
ABS Overturns
of 5 reviewed
What this shows — how Laz Diaz 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
- 1-0.69▼2 · 3-2 ball called strike· challenged ✓
A.J. Ewing vs Robbie Ray - 2-0.30▼2 · 3-1 ball called strike· challenged ✓
Christopher Morel vs Robbie Ray - 3-0.28▲3 · 1-2 ball called strike· challenged ✓
Fernando Tatis Jr. vs Zac Thornton
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.
- 1Christopher Morel — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 2A.J. Ewing — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 3Fernando Tatis Jr. — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 4Zac Thornton — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 5Manny Machado — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 5 of 5 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.