Umpire Grade · Blue Notes

Paul Clemons

26 games graded behind the plate.

Season Grade

92.3% ± 0.8

Avg Swing

runs / game

ABS Overturns

56/101 calls

3,557 correct of 3,854 graded takes (92.3% ± 0.8, 95%). Best game 97.2% · worst 86.6%. 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 Paul Clemons

This season is 3,854 graded takes, which puts Paul Clemons's overall accuracy at 92.3% ± 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 771 takes, so ±1.9 points. (the league-wide two-strike effect is about 1 point in 2026.)
any single corner of the zone — about 321 takes, so ±2.9 points. (corner cells are where umpires actually differ.)
whether one pitcher is called tighter than another — about 64 takes, so ±6.5 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 101 pitches players chose to challenge, which are the pitches they already believed were wrong. 101 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

Paul Clemons

From Oxford, Kansas to the permanent MLB staff — 249 call-up games in between.

The Debut

Paul Clemons made his Major League debut on August 19, 2020, working first base for the opening game of a doubleheader between the Kansas City Royals and the Cincinnati Reds at Kauffman Stadium. The game was played without fans. He had been receiving Major League assignments since that spring — at Spring Training and at an Alternate Site — but that August doubleheader was his first regular-season work.

The Road From Oxford

The road to Kauffman Stadium began in Oxford, Kansas, where Clemons was born in 1989. A Kansas native, he graduated from the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring in 2011, the same year he began working as a Minor League Baseball umpire. He worked minor league and instructional league assignments across the country. His stops included the Arizona League, the Northwest League, the California League, the Eastern League, the International League, the Pacific Coast League, and the Arizona Fall League. During the baseball offseason, he substitute taught at schools in Winfield, Wellington, and Oxford.

After his debut, he worked 249 Major League games as a call-up umpire before MLB promoted him to the permanent staff prior to the 2025 season, alongside Alex MacKay and Emil Jiménez. He wears uniform number 57 and was assigned to Adrian Johnson's crew.

We have graded him behind the plate in 20 games this season, and the record on this page is the reason his name is here. On May 25, 2026, he was the home plate umpire for the Houston Astros' combined no-hitter against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Reporting: Wikipedia, MLB.com, Sumner NewsCow. 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
KC @ CLE2026-08-30	B-	0.5 CLE	3/6	The zone kept to itself — the hitters said thanks.
TB @ DET2026-08-25	A	0.1 DET	1/4	Called it the way the rulebook drew it up.
STL @ CHC2026-08-14	A	0.0 STL	1/1	Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines.
DET @ SF2026-08-09	C+	0.8 DET	4/8	The plate grew a few inches after the first pitch.
SD @ AZ2026-08-04	B	1.2 SD	3/4	The corners were friendlier in one direction tonight.
TOR @ BOS2026-07-25	A-	0.7 BOS	1/3	Down the middle. Both dugouts had the same zone.
PIT @ NYY2026-07-20	C+	0.3 NYY	4/7	The zone stretched its legs.
CHC @ BAL2026-07-09	D	0.1 CHC	1/4	Corner-to-corner and then some.
TOR @ SEA2026-07-03	B-	0.6 TOR	1/3	Pitchers found a little extra real estate.
MIA @ COL2026-06-29	C+	0.1 COL	5/6	This one went to video review more than most.
ATH @ SF2026-06-25	B-	0.1 ATH	4/5	Corner-to-corner and then some.
BOS @ SEA2026-06-20	B-	0.1 SEA	2/3	Pitchers found a little extra real estate.
DET @ HOU2026-06-15	B+	0.8 HOU	1/4	Pitchers found a little extra real estate.
AZ @ MIA2026-06-11	A-	0.3 AZ	3/4	Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines.
PIT @ ATL2026-06-06	A	0.1 ATL	0/4	You could set a watch by that zone.
SF @ MIL2026-06-02	B+	1.1 SF	1/2	Tonight's zone had a rooting interest.
CHC @ STL2026-05-29	A+	0.2 CHC	0/0	You could set a watch by that zone.
HOU @ TEX2026-05-25	C+	0.9 HOU	3/5	The black wasn't in play tonight.
COL @ PIT2026-05-14	C	0.4 PIT	1/2	A pitcher's-nightmare zone — you had to paint it to get it.
MIN @ CLE2026-05-09	B+	0.0 MIN	1/5	Reliable as a Tuesday: no complaints, no headlines.
TEX @ NYY2026-05-05	B	1.3 NYY	3/4	One side pitched to a slightly bigger plate.
CLE @ TOR2026-04-24	D	0.8 CLE	4/6	The zone stretched its legs.
TB @ PIT2026-04-19	C+	0.7 PIT	1/1	The zone kept to itself — the hitters said thanks.
SF @ CIN2026-04-14	A	0.5 SF	1/1	An honest evening's grade: nothing loud, nothing missed by much.
SEA @ LAA2026-04-04	C	0.9 SEA	4/5	The zone had wings tonight.
CLE @ LAD2026-03-30	B-	0.3 CLE	3/4	Borderline went to the battery all night.