Nestor Ceja
32 games graded behind the plate.
Nestor Ceja called 93.6% of taken pitches correctly in the 2026 regular season — 10th of 81 plate umpires with a full season’s sample. League rate: 92.8%.
4,520 correct of 4,827 graded takes (93.6% ± 0.7, 95%). Best game 97.2% · worst 86.7%. 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 Nestor Ceja
This season is 4,827 graded takes, which puts Nestor Ceja's overall accuracy at 93.6% ± 0.7 (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 965 takes, so ±1.5 points. (the league-wide two-strike effect is about 1 point in 2026.)
- any single corner of the zone — about 402 takes, so ±2.4 points. (corner cells are where umpires actually differ.)
- whether one pitcher is called tighter than another — about 80 takes, so ±5.3 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 133 pitches players chose to challenge, which are the pitches they already believed were wrong. 133 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
Nestor Ceja, the Second from Mexico
Born in Michoacán and raised in Los Angeles, Ceja worked 253 call-up games to the full-time staff and reached his first postseason in 2024.
The Road Up
Nestor Ceja was born in Michoacán, Mexico, on April 18, 1987, and moved to Los Angeles at age one. He is the second MLB umpire born in Mexico, and umpiring runs in his family through two brothers-in-law who are minor league umpires.
Ceja attended the 2012 MLB Umpire Camp in Compton, California, and graduated from the Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy. During a Texas League game on May 26, 2016, Ceja called interference on a baserunner at second, awarded a double play, and ejected San Antonio Missions manager Phillip Wellman, whose tantrum landed on highlight shows. The decision stood.
The Debut
Fellow Mexican umpire Alfonso Marquez was on Ceja's crew for his MLB debut. Ceja made that debut on August 14, 2020, working third base for a Padres-Diamondbacks game at Chase Field. Ceja has credited Marquez as a big part of his development, and the two became close friends.
He worked 253 games as a Triple-A call-up before his promotion to the full-time MLB staff ahead of the 2023 season. He served as right field umpire for the 2024 All-Star Game at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Later that year came his first postseason assignment — the National League Wild Card Series, with home plate for Game 1 between the Braves and Padres.
We have graded Ceja behind the plate in 21 games this season, and the record on this page is the reason his name is here.
Reporting: Wikipedia, Baseball-Reference Bullpen, Hispanically Yours, Sports Spectrum. 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.
October behind the plate
Playoff games are graded on their own and are not part of the season grade above.
The games
| Game | Grade | Favor | ABS | Blue Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEX @ MIN2026-09-27 | D | 0.4 MIN | 2/6 | You had to throw it down Broadway to get the call. |
| AZ @ COL2026-09-23 | D | 0.0 AZ | 5/7 | Hawkeye clocked in early and stayed late. |
| PHI @ ATL2026-09-11 | A- | 0.8 ATL | 1/2 | Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone. |
| MIL @ CIN2026-09-06 | A- | 0.4 CIN | 0/4 | The zone kept its promises. |
| MIA @ KC2026-09-02 | A | 0.2 MIA | 2/4 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| LAD @ DET2026-08-28 | A- | 0.0 DET | 0/2 | Called a fair game and let the players decide it. |
| WSH @ NYM2026-08-15 | B- | 0.5 NYM | 0/3 | The zone stretched its legs. |
| BOS @ TOR2026-08-11 | A | 1.0 BOS | 2/4 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| SF @ SD2026-08-01 | B | 0.5 SD | 5/8 | The players kept asking for a second opinion — and kept getting one. |
| HOU @ LAA2026-07-28 | D | 1.0 HOU | 1/3 | Two dugouts, and only one of them smiling. |
| COL @ MIL2026-07-25 | B+ | 0.7 COL | 1/4 | Nothing that'll trend, and on this beat that's a compliment. |
| MIN @ CLE2026-07-21 | B+ | 0.8 MIN | 2/5 | Called a fair game and let the players decide it. |
| SD @ KC2026-07-17 | B | 1.3 KC | 2/5 | One side pitched to a slightly bigger plate. |
| NYY @ WSH2026-07-10 | A- | 0.5 NYY | 3/5 | Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines. |
| MIL @ AZ2026-07-05 | B | 0.7 AZ | 3/5 | The zone kept its promises. |
| LAA @ SEA2026-06-30 | A | 0.2 LAA | 3/5 | The kind of night where the umpire is the least of the story. |
| BAL @ LAD2026-06-19 | A | 0.2 LAD | 1/4 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
| TB @ LAA2026-06-14 | C | 0.9 TB | 3/5 | The zone kept to itself — the hitters said thanks. |
| CHC @ COL2026-06-10 | A+ | 0.1 COL | 1/4 | If umpiring had a highlight reel, this wouldn't make it. That's the compliment. |
| CLE @ TEX2026-06-05 | A | 0.2 TEX | 1/2 | If umpiring had a highlight reel, this wouldn't make it. That's the compliment. |
| AZ @ SEA2026-05-31 | A | 0.3 SEA | 3/4 | A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix. |
| PHI @ SD2026-05-26 | A | 0.7 SD | 2/4 | The zone kept its promises. |
| CWS @ SF2026-05-22 | A | 0.5 CWS | 2/6 | The zone kept its promises. |
| ATH @ LAA2026-05-18 | B+ | 0.6 ATH | 1/3 | An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much. |
| TOR @ TB2026-05-06 | A | 0.3 TOR | 3/4 | A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix. |
| LAD @ STL2026-05-02 | B+ | 0.7 LAD | 1/2 | The kind of night where the umpire is the least of the story. |
| SF @ PHI2026-04-28 | B+ | 0.0 PHI | 1/3 | Borderline went to the battery all night. |
| TOR @ MIL2026-04-16 | C | 0.9 TOR | 7/8 | The challenge cart got its steps in. |
| TEX @ LAD2026-04-11 | A | 0.2 LAD | 1/3 | You could set a watch by that zone. |
| HOU @ COL2026-04-06 | A | 0.1 COL | 1/4 | Quietly excellent. The best umpiring is the kind you forget was there. |
| NYM @ SF2026-04-02 | A- | 0.2 NYM | 1/2 | A workmanlike night — nothing to frame, nothing to fix. |
| TB @ STL2026-03-29 | A- | 0.5 TB | 1/3 | A steady night's work behind the plate. |
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