Blue Notes · Umpire Grade2026-09-22
“The zone leaned, and the ledger noticed.”
Umpire Grade
94.1% accurate
Run Favor
runs, ATH
ABS Overturns
of 6 reviewed
What this shows — how Ben May called the 187 pitches that were taken (no swing), graded against the tracked rulebook strike zone. He got 176 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▲2 · 3-2 ball called strike· challenged ✓
Wade Meckler vs Brady Basso - 2+0.39▼2 · 2-2 strike called ball· challenged
Jonah Heim vs Yusei Kikuchi - 3+0.28▲2 · 1-2 strike called ball· challenged ✓
Christian Moore vs Brady Basso
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 · 4 overturned (ump overruled) · 2 upheld (ump confirmed). This is the ABS system’s own measurement — Hawk-Eye optical ball-tracking, not our model.
- 1Wade Meckler — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 2Jonah Heim — ump said ball, robot ruled strike: overturned.
- 3Moisés Ballesteros — ump said ball, robot ruled ball: upheld.
- 4Michael Stefanic — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 5Jeff McNeil — ump said strike, robot ruled ball: overturned.
- 6Oswald Peraza — ump said strike, robot ruled strike: upheld.
Our tracked-rulebook zone matched the ABS ruling on 5 of 6 — a zone-definition gap (ABS grades a standardized, height-based zone), not our error.