Ryan Benjamin Blakney (born May 24, 1985) is an American Major League Baseball (MLB) umpire. He has umpired in MLB since 2015.

Ryan Blakney
Blakney in the Midwest League in 2008
Born: (1985-05-24) May 24, 1985 (age 39)
Wenatchee, Washington, U.S.
MLB debut
April 21, 2015
Crew Information
Umpiring crewD (4)
Crew members
Career highlights and awards
Special Assignments

Career

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Blakney made his MLB debut on April 21, 2015.[1] For the 2018 regular season he was found to be one of the ten best home plate umpires in terms of accuracy in calling balls and strikes. His error rate was 7.97%. This was based on a study conducted at Boston University where 372,442 pitches were culled and analyzed.[2] Blakney was promoted to a full-time umpiring position before the 2020 Major League Baseball season began.[3]

Blakney was the home plate umpire during Reid Detmers's no-hitter on May 10, 2022.[4]

On May 4, 2024, in a game between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers, Blakney called Yankees player Aaron Judge out on strikes on a pitch from Tigers pitcher Tyler Holton. When Judge disputed the call at the plate, Blakney ejected him, the first ejection of Judge's career.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Ryan Blakney". Retrosheet. Retrosheet. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  2. ^ "MLB Umpires Missed 34,294 Ball-Strike Calls in 2018. Bring on Robo-umps?". BU Today. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  3. ^ "MLB promotes five to full-time umpiring staff". MLB.com. February 27, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  4. ^ "Rays at Angels Box Score". ESPN. May 10, 2022. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  5. ^ Dierberger, Tom (May 4, 2024). "Aaron Judge's First Career Ejection Elicited a Fiery Response From Anthony Rizzo". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 4, 2024.