Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-09-19
“The robots earned their keep tonight.”
Umpire Grade
90.1% accurate
Run Favor
runs, CLE
ABS Overturns
of 6 reviewed
What this shows — how Rob Drake called the 141 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 127 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▲4 · 2-2 ball called strike
Brian Serven vs Tanner Bibee - 2-0.39▲6 · 2-2 ball called strike· challenged ✓
Henry Bolte vs Matt Festa - 3+0.30▼3 · 3-1 strike called ball
José Ramírez vs Chris Roycroft
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
6 pitches went to the robots · 6 overturned (ump overruled) · 0 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Donovan Walton — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 2Henry Bolte — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 3Jeff McNeil — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 4Jeff McNeil — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 5Denzel Clarke — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 6Austin Hedges — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 4 of 6 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.