Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-08-23
“The grade leaned — the ledger says which way.”
Umpire Grade
90.7% accurate
Run Favor
runs, CHC
ABS Overturns
of 2 reviewed
What this shows — how Ben May called the 193 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 175 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▼5 · 3-2 ball called strike
Julio Rodríguez vs Aaron Civale - 2+0.28▲7 · 1-2 strike called ball
Alex Bregman vs Eduard Bazardo - 3-0.21▼1 · 3-0 ball called strike
Josh Naylor vs Shota Imanaga
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 · 0 overturned (ump overruled) · 2 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Cal Raleigh — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 2Josh Naylor — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 1 of 2 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.