Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-09-15
“If it was close, it was a strike. The hitters noticed.”
Umpire Grade
93.8% accurate
Run Favor
runs, KC
ABS Overturns
of 4 reviewed
What this shows — how Rob Drake called the 146 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 137 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· challenged ✓
Isaac Collins vs Hunter Brown - 2-0.28▼4 · 1-2 ball called strike
Christian Walker vs Michael Wacha - 3-0.28▲5 · 1-2 ball called strike· challenged ✓
John Rave vs Hunter Brown
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 · 3 overturned (ump overruled) · 1 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Hunter Brown — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 2John Rave — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 3Isaac Collins — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 4Yainer Diaz — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
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.