10 Worst Umpires in Major League Baseball
7. Ron Kulpa
Kulpa will always be known as the guy who got heat-butted by Carl Everett back in 2000, but to us he's also a horrible umpire. The 55-year-old has been a Major League umpire since 1999 and has worked two World Series. That's nice for him. He's awful at his job.
Bases loaded, 8th inning, 1 out, down 1, 3-0 count, and umpire Ron Kulpa blew consecutive strike calls that should've walked in the tying run for the Cards.
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) July 21, 2023
Instead, Alec Burleson grounded into a double play to end the inning and was ejected.
Cards lost by 1.#Cardinals #Cubs pic.twitter.com/2ZYR1xpcLC
Kulpa was behind the dish for 25 games in 2023, and his accurace rate of 92.8 was fourth-worst in the league. His CCAx was a dismal -26.6, his xACC was 93.5, his AAx of -0.69 was sixth-worst and his average consistency was 93, which was ninth-worst. He also had 17 games with 10 or more missed calls. He's bad at his job and, frankly, might be crazy.