Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-09-06
MIL @ CIN
Home plate: Nestor Ceja
“The zone kept its promises.”
Umpire Grade
94.9% accurate
Run Favor
runs, CIN
ABS Overturns
of 4 reviewed
What this shows — how Nestor Ceja called the 234 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 222 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+0.39▼2 · 2-2 strike called ball
Elly De La Cruz vs Kyle Harrison - 2+0.30▼8 · 3-1 strike called ball
Sal Stewart vs JoJo Romero - 3-0.21▲9 · 3-0 ball called strike
Jake Bauers vs Pierce Johnson
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
4 pitches went to the robots · 0 overturned (ump overruled) · 4 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Elly De La Cruz — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
- 2Bo Naylor — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 3Tyler Stephenson — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 4Gary Sánchez — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 4 of 4 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.