Alex MacKay
23 games graded behind the plate.
3,381 correct of 3,616 graded takes (93.5% ± 0.8, 95%). Best game 96.8% · worst 86.8%. Grade is accuracy on taken pitches vs the rulebook zone; ABS is the Automated Ball-Strike System challenge record (how often the robots overruled the call).
What we can't say about Alex MacKay
This season is 3,616 graded takes, which puts Alex MacKay's overall accuracy at 93.5% ± 0.8 (95% interval). That is a real measurement against a league spanning about four points end to end. It is not enough for anything finer, and here is the arithmetic rather than our word for it:
- how the zone moves with two strikes — about 723 takes, so ±1.8 points. (the league-wide two-strike effect is about 1 point in 2026.)
- any single corner of the zone — about 301 takes, so ±2.8 points. (corner cells are where umpires actually differ.)
- whether one pitcher is called tighter than another — about 60 takes, so ±6.2 points. (a given pitcher is worked once or twice a season.)
And a note on the number itself: an accuracy figure is a rate plus a convention for what counts as a miss. Ours grades every taken pitch against the rulebook zone as the feed reports it. Others are more forgiving — UmpScorecards counts a call wrong only when the pitch was at least 90% likely to be a strike — so two sites can print the same percentage about the same umpire and not mean the same thing by it. How the grade is built.
The overturn rate is a different kind of number and does not belong beside the grade: it is accuracy on the 103 pitches players chose to challenge, which are the pitches they already believed were wrong. 103 is enough to print it with its own denominator, which is what we do — but it still ranks umpires by how often they are appealed, not by how often they are right.
The road to the plate
The Long Call-Up
From Denver through five minor leagues to a permanent MLB staff spot — Alex MacKay's road to the big leagues.
The Long Call-Up
Alex Charles MacKay was born in Denver, Colorado, on February 3, 1989. He graduated from the MiLB Umpire Academy and became a Minor League Baseball umpire in 2012. From there the climb ran through the Florida Instructional League, the Pioneer League, the Florida State League, the Southern League, and the Pacific Coast League. He worked the Southern League All-Star Game in 2017, held in Florida, and again in 2018, this time in Birmingham.
His major league debut came on August 21, 2020, at Kauffman Stadium, where he worked second base for a Royals-Twins game. The crew that day included Jerry Meals at third base, Ed Hickox at first base, and fellow call-up Jeremie Rehak behind the plate. MacKay wore number 105 for the debut. He was the 14th rookie umpire to debut during MLB's shortened 2020 season.
The road from call-up to permanent staff is long. MacKay worked 262 MLB games as a call-up before the promotion arrived. Prior to the 2025 season, MLB promoted him to the permanent staff alongside Paul Clemons and Emil Jiménez, filling openings left by the retirements of Paul Emmel, Jerry Layne, and Larry Vanover. He was assigned to Crew D, led by crew chief Alan Porter, and wears uniform number 9.
We have graded MacKay behind the plate in 18 games this season, and the record on this page is the reason his name is here.
Reporting: Wikipedia, Close Call Sports, MLB.com. Umpire data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.
By the Desk · filed 2026-07-24 — the profile reads as of its filing; the grading record above is live · every fact in this piece comes from a sourced research pack and clears an independent fact-check, and nothing is edited after filing.
The games
| Game | Grade | Favor | ABS | Blue Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AZ @ SF2026-08-27 | B+ | 0.3 SF | 1/2 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| SEA @ HOU2026-08-14 | B | 0.1 HOU | 2/5 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| HOU @ SD2026-08-08 | C+ | 0.0 HOU | 1/3 | The plate grew a few inches after the first pitch. |
| TB @ COL2026-08-03 | A | 0.5 TB | 1/4 | The zone kept its promises. |
| NYY @ CWS2026-07-30 | A- | 0.4 CWS | 1/6 | The kind of night where the umpire is the least of the story. |
| PIT @ CLE2026-07-19 | D | 0.1 PIT | 4/6 | The zone had wings tonight. |
| CHC @ CIN2026-07-12 | C+ | 0.3 CHC | 2/4 | A small strike zone, generously enforced for the offense. |
| ATH @ DET2026-07-08 | A | 0.4 DET | 3/6 | The zone kept its promises. |
| PHI @ KC2026-07-04 | A- | 0.9 KC | 2/3 | Nothing that'll trend, and on this beat that's a compliment. |
| TEX @ TOR2026-06-27 | C | 1.1 TOR | 6/7 | Hawkeye did more talking than the umpire tonight. |
| NYY @ DET2026-06-23 | A- | 0.3 NYY | 3/4 | The kind of night where the umpire is the least of the story. |
| AZ @ CIN2026-06-12 | B+ | 0.2 CIN | 6/6 | ABS had a long evening on this one. |
| CWS @ PHI2026-06-07 | A | 0.9 PHI | 2/4 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| MIA @ WSH2026-06-02 | B- | 1.0 WSH | 4/6 | Nothing off the plate, and not much on the black either. |
| PIT @ TOR2026-05-22 | A | 0.2 TOR | 1/4 | Both benches went home with nothing to say — the rarest kind of night. |
| LAD @ LAA2026-05-17 | B+ | 0.6 LAD | 3/3 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| NYY @ MIL2026-05-10 | A- | 0.0 NYY | 5/7 | A few too many trips to the challenge cart. |
| BAL @ MIA2026-05-06 | A | 0.9 MIA | 1/2 | Called a fair game and let the players decide it. |
| LAA @ KC2026-04-26 | A | 0.6 LAA | 1/4 | A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix. |
| SD @ COL2026-04-21 | A- | 0.8 SD | 2/4 | A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix. |
| CLE @ STL2026-04-15 | A- | 0.3 STL | 1/3 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| PIT @ CHC2026-04-11 | B+ | 0.1 CHC | 4/8 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| SEA @ TEX2026-04-06 | C+ | 0.6 TEX | 1/2 | Pitchers earned every strike the hard way. |