David Rackley
23 games graded behind the plate.
3,257 correct of 3,511 graded takes (92.8% ± 0.9, 95%). Best game 96.7% · worst 88.0%. 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 David Rackley
This season is 3,511 graded takes, which puts David Rackley's overall accuracy at 92.8% ± 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 702 takes, so ±1.9 points. (the league-wide two-strike effect is about 1 point in 2026.)
- any single corner of the zone — about 293 takes, so ±3.0 points. (corner cells are where umpires actually differ.)
- whether one pitcher is called tighter than another — about 59 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 91 pitches players chose to challenge, which are the pitches they already believed were wrong. 91 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 165-Game Road
Born in Houston, David Rackley worked 165 games as a fill-in before his full-time MLB appointment — and now teaches at the school that trains the next wave.
The Long Fill-In
David Rackley worked 165 major league games as a fill-in umpire before MLB hired him to the full-time staff prior to the 2014 season. The road started in Houston, Texas, where he was born on October 11, 1981, and ran through the Arizona, Northwest, South Atlantic, California, Texas, and International leagues, as well as the Florida and Arizona Instructional circuits. He umpired the 2007 All-Star Futures Game during his minor league tenure. His major league debut came on August 13, 2010. Rackley wears uniform number 86.
He serves as an instructor at the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School.
October
His first postseason assignment was the 2016 American League Wild Card Game. From there the assignments grew: League Championship Series work in 2021 and 2024, All-Star Game selections, and in 2023, the World Series. He worked four games across multiple positions in that Series.
In 2025, Rackley was voted onto the board of UMPS CARE Charities, the umpiring community's philanthropic organization. The group supports children and families through various programs.
We have graded David Rackley behind the plate in 20 games this season, and the record on this page is the reason his name is here.
Reporting: Wikipedia, MLB.com, Baseball Almanac, UMPS CARE Charities. Umpire data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.
By the Desk · filed 2026-07-23 — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COL @ ATL2026-08-30 | B | 0.7 COL | 3/4 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| BOS @ MIA2026-08-25 | C | 0.1 BOS | 4/9 | If it was close, it was a strike. The hitters noticed. |
| COL @ MIL2026-07-24 | A- | 0.5 COL | 1/1 | Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines. |
| MIN @ CLE2026-07-20 | C+ | 0.3 CLE | 1/5 | Corner-to-corner and then some. |
| NYY @ WSH2026-07-12 | C+ | 0.8 NYY | 3/5 | Corner-to-corner and then some. |
| BOS @ CWS2026-07-08 | D | 0.1 CWS | 2/3 | Corner-to-corner and then some. |
| MIL @ AZ2026-07-03 | B | 0.4 AZ | 4/7 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| PIT @ ATH2026-06-17 | A- | 0.2 ATH | 0/2 | Called a fair game and let the players decide it. |
| TB @ LAA2026-06-13 | A- | 0.1 TB | 2/2 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| CHC @ COL2026-06-09 | C+ | 1.5 COL | 4/7 | A tilt to the evening — the numbers say which way. |
| PIT @ HOU2026-06-04 | B+ | 0.3 PIT | 0/1 | Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines. |
| AZ @ SEA2026-05-30 | A | 0.4 SEA | 2/3 | A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix. |
| PHI @ SD2026-05-25 | A | 0.5 SD | 1/4 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| ATH @ LAA2026-05-21 | A- | 0.8 ATH | 1/4 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| CIN @ CLE2026-05-17 | C+ | 0.5 CIN | 3/4 | Off the corner was close enough tonight. |
| HOU @ CIN2026-05-09 | A | 0.1 HOU | 2/4 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| TOR @ TB2026-05-04 | B- | 0.5 TOR | 1/2 | The kind of night where the umpire is the least of the story. |
| SF @ PHI2026-04-30 | B+ | 0.3 PHI | 2/5 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| TOR @ MIL2026-04-14 | A- | 0.1 MIL | 0/5 | Called a fair game and let the players decide it. |
| HOU @ COL2026-04-08 | B | 0.6 COL | 2/4 | The plate grew a few inches after the first pitch. |
| NYM @ SF2026-04-04 | A- | 0.4 SF | 2/3 | The zone shrank when the pitchers needed it most. |
| LAA @ CHC2026-04-01 | B | 0.2 LAA | 1/4 | Nothing that'll trend, and on this beat that's a compliment. |
| TB @ STL2026-03-28 | B- | 0.5 STL | 0/3 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |