D.J. Reyburn
23 games graded behind the plate.
3,114 correct of 3,342 graded takes (93.2% ± 0.9, 95%). Best game 96.3% · worst 85.9%. 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 D.J. Reyburn
This season is 3,342 graded takes, which puts D.J. Reyburn's overall accuracy at 93.2% ± 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 668 takes, so ±1.9 points. (the league-wide two-strike effect is about 1 point in 2026.)
- any single corner of the zone — about 279 takes, so ±3.0 points. (corner cells are where umpires actually differ.)
- whether one pitcher is called tighter than another — about 56 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 100 pitches players chose to challenge, which are the pitches they already believed were wrong. 100 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
D.J. Reyburn
440 fill-in games, a road from Grand Rapids to the World Series, and a career built on the long climb.
D.J. Reyburn was born on October 13, 1976, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated from Hope College with a degree in sociology and, in January 2000, enrolled at The Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring. He finished in the top 25 of 125 students and was hired to umpire in the Arizona Rookie League. His major league debut came in 2008, at third base for a game between the Oakland A's and the New York Yankees.
The Fill-In Years
Then the road stretched out. He worked 440 games as a fill-in umpire before being promoted to full-time major league status ahead of the 2014 season. On September 11, 2014, he was the home plate umpire during a Marlins-Brewers game when Milwaukee pitcher Mike Fiers hit Giancarlo Stanton in the face with a fastball. Because Stanton was swinging, Reyburn ruled the pitch a strike, meaning the at-bat continued; pinch-hitter Reed Johnson then also got hit by a similar pitch and struck out. The decision sparked a bench-clearing incident and multiple ejections of Marlins personnel.
The postseason run followed: League Division Series in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023, Wild Card rounds in 2020 and 2022, and the 2022 League Championship Series. He worked the 2019 All-Star Game. In 2023, he was selected to the umpiring crew for the World Series — his first career World Series assignment. We have graded him behind the plate in 17 games this season, and that record is the reason his name is on this page.
Away from the field, Reyburn has served on the executive board of Umps Care Charities, the non-profit established by major league umpires, and has volunteered for Meals on Wheels. He was voted president of Umps Care in 2025.
Reporting: Retrosheet, Hope College, Hope College Athletics, Baseball Reference 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WSH @ MIA2026-08-22 | A | 1.0 WSH | 0/3 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| AZ @ BOS2026-08-18 | A | 1.9 BOS | 2/5 | Somebody's pitching staff sent a thank-you note. |
| CWS @ DET2026-08-14 | B- | 0.6 CWS | 3/6 | A pitcher's-nightmare zone — you had to paint it to get it. |
| CHC @ KC2026-08-09 | B- | 0.7 KC | 1/2 | If it was close, it was a strike. The hitters noticed. |
| PIT @ MIL2026-08-05 | B- | 0.9 MIL | 2/4 | You wanted a strike, you had to earn it twice. |
| ATL @ BAL2026-07-25 | B+ | 0.2 ATL | 2/5 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| MIA @ HOU2026-07-20 | B+ | 0.3 MIA | 2/5 | The kind of night where the umpire is the least of the story. |
| MIN @ NYY2026-07-03 | A- | 0.7 NYY | 3/6 | Called a fair game and let the players decide it. |
| KC @ CWS2026-06-28 | B | 0.9 CWS | 2/5 | Nothing that'll trend, and on this beat that's a compliment. |
| BAL @ LAA2026-06-23 | A- | 0.1 BAL | 1/4 | Pitchers earned every strike the hard way. |
| MIN @ AZ2026-06-19 | B+ | 0.2 AZ | 2/4 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| BOS @ NYY2026-06-07 | B- | 0.7 NYY | 4/5 | Borderline went to the battery all night. |
| ATH @ CHC2026-06-02 | B+ | 0.6 CHC | 2/5 | Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines. |
| AZ @ SF2026-05-27 | A- | 0.3 SF | 1/1 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| TEX @ LAA2026-05-23 | A- | 0.3 TEX | 2/3 | Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines. |
| PIT @ STL2026-05-19 | B | 0.7 PIT | 0/4 | Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines. |
| NYM @ COL2026-05-04 | D | 0.0 COL | 2/5 | The plate grew a few inches after the first pitch. |
| KC @ ATH2026-04-30 | B+ | 0.0 ATH | 2/3 | Expanded the plate a touch past its 17 inches. |
| ATL @ PHI2026-04-19 | B | 0.1 PHI | 3/5 | A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix. |
| WSH @ PIT2026-04-16 | B | 0.3 PIT | 3/5 | Nothing that'll trend, and on this beat that's a compliment. |
| ATH @ NYM2026-04-12 | B+ | 0.3 NYM | 4/4 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| CIN @ MIA2026-04-08 | A | 0.6 MIA | 2/6 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| TEX @ PHI2026-03-28 | B | 1.3 PHI | 2/5 | Somebody's pitching staff sent a thank-you note. |