Erich Bacchus
26 games graded behind the plate.
3,766 correct of 4,043 graded takes (93.2% ± 0.8, 95%). Best game 96.8% · worst 88.8%. 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 Erich Bacchus
This season is 4,043 graded takes, which puts Erich Bacchus's overall accuracy at 93.2% ± 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 809 takes, so ±1.7 points. (the league-wide two-strike effect is about 1 point in 2026.)
- any single corner of the zone — about 337 takes, so ±2.7 points. (corner cells are where umpires actually differ.)
- whether one pitcher is called tighter than another — about 67 takes, so ±6.0 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 82 pitches players chose to challenge, which are the pitches they already believed were wrong. 82 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
Erich Bacchus
From Germantown through five minor leagues to Crew I.
Erich Bacchus was born on November 2, 1990, in Germantown, Maryland. He graduated from the Wendelstedt Umpire School in 2012 and spent the years that followed working through five minor leagues — the Arizona, South Atlantic, Carolina, Eastern, and International Leagues.
The Carolina League was one of those steps. In August 2014, Bacchus was behind the plate when manager Tommy Thompson disputed a checked-swing call. Thompson pulled off his shoes, left them on home plate, and threw his helmet into the stands. It was a memorable ejection, and Bacchus was the umpire at the plate.
The Majors
Bacchus made his debut on August 7, 2020, as the second base umpire in a game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. He was promoted to the full-time Major League staff in 2023 and was selected as an umpire for the 2025 All-Star Game.
He wears uniform number 12 and is a member of Crew I, whose crew chief is Laz Díaz.
We have graded Bacchus behind the plate in 19 games this season.
Reporting: Wikipedia, Baseball Reference. 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 @ WSH2026-08-30 | A | 0.1 WSH | 2/3 | Quietly excellent. The best umpiring is the kind you forget was there. |
| LAD @ ATL2026-08-26 | B | 0.8 ATL | 2/5 | Expanded the plate a touch past its 17 inches. |
| STL @ PHI2026-08-21 | A | 0.2 STL | 0/2 | Quietly excellent. The best umpiring is the kind you forget was there. |
| BAL @ TB2026-08-16 | A | 0.0 TB | 1/3 | A clean sheet behind the plate — the kind of night nobody posts about. |
| CIN @ WSH2026-08-08 | B- | 0.4 CIN | 2/4 | The zone kept to itself — the hitters said thanks. |
| LAD @ CHC2026-08-05 | C+ | 0.8 CHC | 2/3 | Pitchers found a little extra real estate. |
| KC @ DET2026-07-25 | B+ | 0.1 DET | 0/1 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| LAD @ PHI2026-07-21 | A | 0.2 PHI | 2/3 | Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines. |
| BAL @ HOU2026-07-17 | B | 0.1 HOU | 0/4 | Generous with the corners — the pitchers said thank you. |
| SEA @ MIA2026-07-09 | A | 0.2 SEA | 0/2 | Called a fair game and let the players decide it. |
| BAL @ CIN2026-07-04 | A | 0.0 CIN | 2/3 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| TEX @ CLE2026-06-29 | B- | 0.5 CLE | 3/3 | You had to throw it down Broadway to get the call. |
| PHI @ MIL2026-06-14 | A- | 0.1 PHI | 4/5 | The kind of night where the umpire is the least of the story. |
| TEX @ KC2026-06-10 | B- | 1.6 TEX | 2/7 | One side pitched to a slightly bigger plate. |
| SEA @ DET2026-06-05 | A | 0.3 DET | 0/2 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| MIL @ HOU2026-05-30 | B | 0.5 HOU | 2/4 | You wanted a strike, you had to earn it twice. |
| COL @ LAD2026-05-25 | B | 0.6 LAD | 1/3 | Nothing off the plate, and not much on the black either. |
| BOS @ KC2026-05-20 | A | 0.4 KC | 1/2 | A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix. |
| TB @ TOR2026-05-13 | D | 1.1 TOR | 4/6 | The zone leaned, and the ledger noticed. |
| HOU @ BOS2026-05-02 | B- | 0.3 BOS | 2/3 | The zone kept to itself — the hitters said thanks. |
| STL @ PIT2026-04-28 | C | 0.9 STL | 0/1 | Expanded the plate a touch past its 17 inches. |
| DET @ CIN2026-04-24 | B | 0.5 DET | 2/4 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| ATL @ WSH2026-04-20 | B+ | 0.4 ATL | 0/0 | If it was close, it was a strike. The hitters noticed. |
| AZ @ NYM2026-04-09 | B- | 1.0 NYM | 1/4 | The corners were friendlier in one direction tonight. |
| SD @ BOS2026-04-04 | B | 0.4 SD | 0/2 | A small strike zone, generously enforced for the offense. |
| COL @ TOR2026-03-30 | B+ | 1.5 TOR | 0/3 | The zone leaned, and the ledger noticed. |