Fever BaseballFor collectors and stat nerdsFuture Value Radar (FVR) · On the record
Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-09-09

CLE @ BAL

Home plate: David Rackley

The strike zone picked a side, and wasn't shy about it.

C+
Umpire Grade
90.1% accurate
1.2
Run Favor
runs, CLE
1
ABS Overturns
of 2 reviewed

What this shows — how David Rackley called the 151 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 136 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

Challenge 1: Nathaniel Lowe — the ump called it a strike, the robot ruled strike (upheld — ump confirmed).1Challenge 2: Jo Adell — the ump called it a strike, the robot ruled ball (OVERTURNED — ump overruled).2
strike called ballball called strikeABS overturnedABS upheld

The calls that moved the game

  1. 1-0.306 · 3-1 ball called strike
    Pete Alonso vs Franco Aleman
  2. 2+0.232 · 0-2 strike called ball
    Rece Hinds vs Foster Griffin
  3. 3-0.239 · 0-2 ball called strike· challenged
    Jo Adell vs Rico Garcia

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 · 1 overturned (ump overruled) · 1 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.

  1. 1Nathaniel Lowe — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
  2. 2Jo Adell — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.

Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 2 of 2 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.

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