Umpire Grade · Blue Notes

Chris Segal

25 games graded behind the plate.

Season Grade

92.3% ± 0.9

Avg Swing

runs / game

ABS Overturns

70/115 calls

3,430 correct of 3,717 graded takes (92.3% ± 0.9, 95%). Best game 95.9% · 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 Chris Segal

This season is 3,717 graded takes, which puts Chris Segal's overall accuracy at 92.3% ± 0.9 (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 743 takes, so ±1.9 points. (the league-wide two-strike effect is about 1 point in 2026.)
any single corner of the zone — about 310 takes, so ±3.0 points. (corner cells are where umpires actually differ.)
whether one pitcher is called tighter than another — about 62 takes, so ±6.6 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 115 pitches players chose to challenge, which are the pitches they already believed were wrong. 115 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

Chris Segal

A Virginia catcher who worked more than 650 Major League assignments before his promotion to the permanent staff.

Behind the Dish for History

On July 30, 2017, Texas Rangers third baseman Adrián Beltré collected his 3,000th career hit against the Baltimore Orioles — one of baseball's milestone achievements. The umpire behind the plate for it was Chris Segal, a man who had spent his own playing days as a catcher.

The Road from Falls Church

Born in Falls Church, Virginia, in 1982, Segal graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 2005. He was a four-year starter and team captain, splitting time between catcher and the outfield. The following year he graduated from the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring and began his minor league career in the Appalachian League.

Segal made his MLB umpiring debut on April 14, 2014, working first base in Anaheim on Tim Welke's crew for a Mariners-Angels game. He worked more than 650 assignments to Major League games before MLB promoted him to the permanent umpiring staff in 2020. He wears uniform number 96.

The Games Under His Mask

On September 13, 2020, Segal served as the home plate umpire for Alec Mills' no-hitter, thrown by the Chicago Cubs against the Milwaukee Brewers. He also worked the 2023 World Baseball Classic as an umpire.

Not every moment he worked behind the plate involved a celebration. On August 9, 2019, Segal ejected Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout. Gardner insisted he had not said a word, and manager Aaron Boone had to physically restrain Gardner from confronting Segal during the heated incident.

This season, our record includes 18 games with him behind the plate.

Reporting: Wikipedia, Close Call Sports, MLB.com, BR Bullpen, UMPS CARE Charities. 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
MIA @ WSH2026-08-31	C	0.2 MIA	3/5	Corner-to-corner and then some.
LAD @ ATL2026-08-27	B+	0.4 LAD	0/1	A steady night's work behind the plate.
STL @ PHI2026-08-22	A	0.2 PHI	0/2	If umpiring had a highlight reel, this wouldn't make it. That's the compliment.
SD @ NYM2026-08-17	C	1.2 NYM	2/3	Tonight's zone had a rooting interest.
TOR @ CHC2026-08-06	B-	0.3 CHC	3/6	Generous with the corners — the pitchers said thank you.
LAD @ CHC2026-08-03	C+	0.4 LAD	4/5	The plate grew a few inches after the first pitch.
KC @ DET2026-07-23	A-	0.8 KC	3/6	Solid and unspectacular — exactly what the job asks.
BAL @ HOU2026-07-19	A-	1.1 BAL	3/5	The strike zone picked a side, and wasn't shy about it.
LAA @ MIN2026-07-11	B+	1.3 MIN	6/6	A busy night for the machines in the truck.
SEA @ MIA2026-07-07	B+	0.3 SEA	4/6	Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone.
TEX @ CLE2026-07-01	A-	0.2 TEX	1/5	The kind of night where the umpire is the least of the story.
CIN @ NYY2026-06-19	B-	0.3 CIN	1/3	Squeezed the edges; the hitters didn't mind at all.
TEX @ KC2026-06-11	A	0.5 KC	4/5	A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix.
SEA @ DET2026-06-06	B+	0.4 DET	0/3	Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone.
CLE @ NYY2026-06-02	B+	0.0 NYY	1/3	A steady night's work behind the plate.
NYM @ WSH2026-05-21	A	0.2 NYM	0/3	Called it the way the rulebook drew it up.
CHC @ CWS2026-05-17	D	1.8 CHC	9/12	Hawkeye clocked in early and stayed late.
TB @ TOR2026-05-12	A-	0.2 TB	2/4	A steady night's work behind the plate.
HOU @ BOS2026-05-01	B-	0.4 HOU	0/1	The zone shrank when the pitchers needed it most.
STL @ PIT2026-04-27	B+	0.1 PIT	2/3	The zone kept its promises.
ATL @ WSH2026-04-23	B-	1.6 WSH	5/6	A few too many trips to the challenge cart.
SF @ BAL2026-04-12	B	0.7 SF	3/5	Pitchers found a little extra real estate.
AZ @ NYM2026-04-08	C+	0.9 NYM	4/4	Pitchers found a little extra real estate.
SD @ BOS2026-04-03	C	0.5 SD	3/3	Pitchers found a little extra real estate.
MIN @ BAL2026-03-29	D	0.7 MIN	7/10	The players kept asking for a second opinion — and kept getting one.