Umpire Ron Kulpa, whose work was at the cener of a major dustup with Houston Astros brass Wednesday night. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ron Kulpa Taking apart MLB umpire Ron Kulpa’s umpiring during Wednesday’s controversy-filled 4-0 Astros loss to the Texas Rangers; what role did the umpire play in that outcome? The MLB umpire at the center of Wednesday’s dustup with the Houston Astros did have a bad game, although — ironically – the controversial second inning was among his best. The Astros had plenty to complain about in the ball-strike work of plate umpire Ron Kulpa during Wednesday night’s 4-0 Astros loss to the Texas Rangers. By the standards of major league umpires, Kulpa had an off night. It’s also true that an uncommon majority of Kulpa’s errors hurt the Astros. Having acknowledged that, on the specific second-inning beef leading to the ejections of Astros coach Alex Cintron and manager A.J. Hinch, Kulpa was right. The issue erupted in that inning when MLB umpire Ron Kulpa ejected Cintron, and later Hinch, for what they believed were bad calls leading to Carlos Correa’s strikeout. A significant part of Hinch’s objection, and to the subsequent outrage expressed by Astros fans, lies less in the calls themselves and more in what appeared to be Kulpa’s imperial attitude regarding those calls. Hinch later confirmed that Kulpa had told him, “I’ll do what I want,” and many suggested he appeared to be smirking while doing so. The intimation was that the Astros did not get a fair shake. Setting aside questions about the propriety of what Kulpa told Hinch and his attitude in saying it, the raw data surrounding the ball-strike umpiring of the game suggests that neither the Astros nor Kulpa left the field with much to be proud of. Start with the specifics of the calls that raised the Astros’ ire in the first place. MLB’s PitchTrax data shows that among five strikes Kulpa called on Astros batters in that second inning, two were borderline but Kulpa got all five correct, including the first-pitch strike call to Correa that triggered the Astros outburst. In fact, Cintron and Hinch probably were incensed as much by a pair of first-inning Kulpa miscalls. One was a first-pitch strike Kulpa called on Jose Altuve on an inside pitch, the other a 3-1 strike on Michael Brantley on an outside pitch. Both hitters eventually struck out. We can use several metrics to assess Kulpa’s work behind the plate. Generally speaking, and with individual variations, umpires get about 93 percent of ball/strike calls correct. On Wednesday, Kulpa was called upon to make 145 such calls, and based on PitchTrax he miscalled 17 of them. That’s an 88 percent accuracy rate. So he had a bad game. But that is a raw figure and it requires refinement since the vast majority of ball/strike calls are so rudimentary that anybody with a fundamental understanding of strike zone could get virtually all of them correct. Most pitches are either basically right down the middle, in the dirt, conspicuously high or somewhere well off the plate. So when an umpire is rated at 93% (or, in Kulpa’s case, 88%), it needs to be noted that the vast majority of the ball-strike questions amounted to the umpiring version of “how much is 2 plus 2?” For major league umpires, the challenging calls are those where the pitcher succeeds in coming close to the corners of the strike zone. There were 41 pitches in Wednesday’s game thrown within a ball’s width of the zone’s perimeter; that is, they were tough pitches to call. Most umpires only call about two-thirds to three-quarters of these correctly. MLB Umpire Ron Kulpa did even worse than that; he got 24 of them right, just 59 percent. So he had a bad night. And his bad night measurably hurt the Astros in a way that the conspiratorial among us would find indictable. As a general proposition, an umpire’s ball-strike decisions basically break evenly against both teams, but that was decidedly not the case Wednesday. Of Kulpa’s 17 bad calls, 13 favored the Rangers and only four favored the Astros. We can use Weighted Win Probability Added – a measurement of the influence of any at-bat outcome on the game’s outcome – to at least estimate the impact of Kulpa’s wrong decisions on the Rangers’ victory. T The answer: as much as 16 percent. Given the fact that Texas starter Mike Minor and two relievers shut out Houston in a game the Rangers won by four runs, it would be wrong to ascribe to Kulpa too large an impact on the Houston defeat. Beyond that, there is no guarantee that had Kulpa made the correct calls on, for example, those first inning strikes-that-were-actually balls to Altuve or Brantley, the Astro hitters would have done something more productive than fanned. Still, at least on a large scale, there is plenty of evidence that MLB umpire decisions can be impactful. Since only a handful of Kulpa’s miscalls came in ball-strike counts that tend to have large influences on an at-bats outcome, his actual influence on the game might have been significantly below 16%. He showed a particular predisposition to ring up first pitch strikes whether they were on the plate or not. In a way, that’s good for Kulpa, since a first-pitch call influences the outcome of an at-bat to only a relatively small measure. As a general rule, the average major leaguer’s batting average on a first pitch is about .345. At 1-0 it falls to .344, but at 0-1 it only drops to about .324. Want your voice heard? Join the Call To The Pen team! Write for us! Compare that with the change that results when a pitch in a 1-1 count is wrongly called. If the count moves to 2-1, a batter tends to hit .344. At 1-2, his average falls to .166. But those calls are rare. Kulpa had only 13 1-1 calls to make Wednesday, and according to PitchTrax, he called all 13 correctly.<doc-sep>By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston BOSTON (CBS) — Temper tantrums, typically, are the province of toddlers. They are not supposed to be a characteristic of the unbiased, unemotional arbiters of the rules on a sporting field of play. Veteran MLB umpire Ron Kulpa, though? There’s a fellow who had himself a temper tantrum on Wednesday evening in Arlington, Texas. And he ought to be forced to pay for it. The incident took place in the top of the second inning, when several members of the Astros’ dugout vocally protested a strike called on Tyler White. This was the pitch in question: The pitch was clearly low; Kulpa had clearly blown the call. It wasn’t the first blown call in the history of baseball. It happens. Likewise, it was not the first instance of players disagreeing with a single strike call in the middle of a baseball game. The worst thing that the broadcast microphones picked up from the dugout was someone saying, “No way.” It did not need to become a major incident. Alas, Kulpa apparently had his rabbit ears on for this game, as he almost immediately removed his mask and aggressively gestured at the Houston dugout. He raised his arms and also issued a dismissive backhand wave to the players as he defended his bad call. This prompted Astros manager A.J. Hinch to exit the dugout and approach Kulpa in order to play peacekeeper. This should never be the case. The players and coaches involved in the game should never be in a position where they feel obligated to calm the emotions of an umpire. That is not how the equation works. Nevertheless, Hinch kept his cool, despite the umpire pointing for him to return to the dugout while dismissively telling Hinch to not question him. Hinch calmed down Kulpa. Briefly. Before even one more pitch was thrown, the umpire leered into the Houston dugout, essentially daring the players to say something. Hinch had to once again take the field to kindly ask the neutral game official to stop staring down his players. The mics picked up Hinch’s words to Kulpa: “There’s nothing to see. There’s nothing for you to see. Look out there. Look right there.” The cavalier Kulpa then ejected the Astros’ hitting coach. The game continued. Kulpa called a strike. Guess what he did next. He stared down the Astros. It was wildly unprofessional, so Hinch came out once again. This time, the manager had to inform the umpire that he could not keep antagonizing the baseball team in the dugout. Kulpa responded by telling Hinch that he can do anything he wants. Literally. Hinch ended up earning an ejection, too. This one fella on Twitter captured the whole experience quite well: Here's a little breakdown of the main Kulpa incident tonight. He had a couple others just from this game. pic.twitter.com/U1sckvNbbD — Jomboy (@Jomboy_) April 4, 2019 Really, what took place was a wild overcompensation for simply missing a strike call. A man with a calm head on his shoulders would have endured the five seconds of protest from the Astros’ bench and gotten back to work, trying his best to make every call thereafter. Kulpa couldn’t do that, though. He had to exert his power by antagonizing the entire Houston bench. Kulpa clearly was not going to be satisfied until he kicked out some Astros. And Kulpa wasn’t even finished. Not satisfied with his performance, he felt the need to start a tiff with Astros starter Gerrit Cole after an inning and then interrupted Cole’s warmup pitches prior to another inning. Ron Kulpa missed Gerrit Cole's 2-2 fastball (5) to Joey Gallo. Cole was two steps off the mound and Kulpa called a ball. Gallo then drew a walk. pic.twitter.com/ivxlgDJh9t — Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) April 4, 2019 Also, @MLB more absurd behavior from Ron Kulpa. Antagonizing the pitcher, physically pushing the catcher, and interrupting the pitcher warming up. Insane behavior. pic.twitter.com/hKKdLRYLvC — Tyler Applegate (@t_applegate) April 4, 2019 This was, quite simply, childish and unprofessional behavior from a person who is not supposed to act in such a way. As the MLB rules state, “The umpires shall be responsible for the conduct of the game in accordance with these official rules and for maintaining discipline and order on the playing field during the game. … Each umpire is the representative of the league and of professional baseball, and is authorized and required to enforce all of these rules.” The person tasked with “maintaining discipline and order on the playing field during the game” should not be an active participant in disrupting the discipline and order on the playing field. The incident does call to mind another case of Kulpa blowing a call and — instead of humbly admitting some fault and efforting to do better going forward — compounding the issue by stacking another bad call on top of it: No angles showed Kulpa staring into the dugout after that call, but based on the reaction of David Ortiz, it appears it only took a split-second for him to make eye contact with the umpire when looking back at the field. A year prior to that incident, Kulpa arrogantly told Ryan Raburn to get to the dugout after a borderline strike three call. He also once followed A.J. Pierzynski as the catcher tried to walk away after emotionally snapping at the umpire. Kulpa couldn’t let that go and chose to stalk Pierzynski on his walk toward the mound in order to eject him. (If you’re wondering why Pierzynski snapped over this one call, aside from the fact that he’s A.J. Pierzynski, it’s worth noting that this walk ended Yu Darvish’s bid for a perfect game.) Clearly, Kulpa has a history of taking things personally on the field. That’s not supposed to be a defining trait of a professional who is tasked with making calls on the field without emotion. Really, Kulpa’s shown a pattern of believing he can do anything he wants. On Wednesday, he merely vocalized that belief.<doc-sep>Video of the confrontation quickly went viral ARLINGTON, Texas — An argument in the second inning of Wednesday night's Astros/Rangers match-up resulted in home plate umpire Ron Kulpa ejecting Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron and manager A.J. Hinch from the game in Arlington. In videos and photos that quickly sprung up on social media, Kulpa can be seen in a shouting match with Hinch, culminating in Kulpa repeatedly saying what looks like "I can do whatever I want!" Social media reaction from both Rangers and Astros fans was swift...and fierce. As of this writing, Kulpa's Wikipedia entry has been changed to say that he is "a blind umpire in Major League Baseball" and "he was the first participant in a program by Major League Baseball to provide jobs in professional sports for people with congnitive [sic] impairments."<doc-sep>Astros manager A.J. Hinch said he spoke Thursday with Joe Torre, Major League Baseball's chief baseball officer, regarding his confrontation with umpire Ron Kulpa during an Astros-Rangers game a day earlier. Hinch, who along with hitting coach Alex Cintron was ejected from the Wednesday game for protesting what replays showed to be Kulpa's inconsistent strike zone, did not offer details of the conversation but said it was "case closed."<doc-sep>
Umpires are people like you and me ... until they step on a baseball diamond. Once they step onto that grass, they have an almost absurd amount of power. They decide balls and strikes, they’re the only word on non-reviewable calls, and in the 8th inning and later, they’re the only ones who can decide to have a call reviewed. [It’s still not too late to join or create a 2019 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league] There’s only one reason we’re talking about this: an umpire has had an embarrassing on-field meltdown. This time, that umpire is Ron Kulpa. This isn’t a C.B. Bucknor style embarrassment, which usually involves making at least one obviously wrong call and refusing to admit it or ask for help. In this case, Kulpa made a borderline strike call and then turned into a power-mad baseball dictator right there on the field. The inciting incident Let’s break it down. Kulpa was the home plate umpire for Wednesday night’s game between the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers. Rangers pitcher Mike Minor is who benefitted from that borderline strike call in the second inning. The pitch was a little low, though probably not worth getting worked up over. But the Astros dugout was pretty steamed about Kulpa’s strike zone. So manager A.J. Hinch came out to talk to Kulpa in the top of the second, and Kulpa sent him right back to the dugout. But the dugout — including hitting coach Alex Cintron — kept jawing at Kulpa. Umpires don’t like to be challenged, especially on balls and strikes. And once Kulpa was challenged, he wouldn’t let it go. A.J. Hinch and umpire Ron Kulpa got into a screaming match on Wednesday, leading to the first true Ump Show of the 2019 season. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) To be fair, the Astros continued to bark at Kulpa from the dugout, especially Cintron. So Kulpa tossed Cintron, leading Hinch to come out for the second time to calm things down. Hinch had started this whole ordeal appearing to be pretty measured when talking to Kulpa, but he was slowly getting worked up. Kulpa, however, was approaching full-on meltdown mode. Ron Kulpa’s meltdown What happens when an umpire has a full blown meltdown? Just watch Kulpa. After Hinch returned to the dugout the second time, Kulpa kept looking over there, most likely waiting for a player or coach to make another comment. Hinch gave him what he wanted. He yelled “You can’t keep doing this!” at Kulpa, who immediately ejected Hinch, leading to an on-field screaming match and Kulpa shouting in Hinch’s face “I can do anything I want!” You can see the entire incident, from first pitch to final shout, below. Story continues It's a little chilly out, but things are running hot on the field. The Astros get 2 people tossed, including manager AJ Hinch, after arguing balls and strikes.#TogetherWe pic.twitter.com/ArITqYTarl — FOX Sports Southwest (@FOXSportsSW) April 4, 2019 It was not the most mature display from Kulpa. Players and coaches jaw about balls and strikes a lot, and there’s a good argument to be made that Hinch, Cintron, and the rest of the dugout should have just let it go after the first interaction. But it didn’t seem like Kulpa wanted to let it go. He kept looking over at the Astros dugout, almost daring them to challenge him again. Hinch took the hit, barked at Kulpa, and got ejected. Kulpa doesn’t let it go It wasn’t over after Kulpa ejected Hinch. Kulpa kept punishing the Astros, having words with pitcher Gerrit Cole, interrupting his warmup, and even initiating physical contact with the catcher, all of which seems really petty and unnecessary. Also, @MLB more absurd behavior from Ron Kulpa. Antagonizing the pitcher, physically pushing the catcher, and interrupting the pitcher warming up. Insane behavior. pic.twitter.com/hKKdLRYLvC — Tyler Applegate (@t_applegate) April 4, 2019 An umpire’s job is to adjudicate the game and keep law and order on the field. If fans wanted to see umpires drunk with power and acting like the center of attention, they would buy a ticket to the Ron Kulpa Angry Umpire Funtime Hour. Fans had actually paid to see the Astros-Rangers game, but were treated to Kulpa’s show instead. Will Kulpa be punished? Will MLB or the World Umpires Association say anything at all, let alone recognize that Kulpa’s behavior was out of line? Probably not!