Sometimes it feels like the umpires behind the plate compete to see who can make the most bad calls. Until 2024, the face of this was Angel Hernandez, but after his retirement, many other MLB umpires have stepped up their game. And it looks like C.B. Bucknor might be leading the race.

In today’s Spring Game between the Nationals and the Astros, C.B. Bucknor was almost exposed in the first inning. As reported by Talkin’ Baseball, “Umpire C.B. Bucknor had three pitches overturned in the first inning today.”

Bucknor had a rough start after three calls were overturned with the help of ABS in the very first inning. Those overturned calls just showed why ABS will be important in the upcoming season. But missed calls are inevitable.

With pitchers throwing the ball at nearly 95 MPH and having sharp movement, getting the right call every time is not possible. But the problem comes when we look at the reputation Bucknor has gained standing behind the plate.

Numbers from the UmpScorecards ranked Bucknor at 88th out of the 92 umpires in 2025. He has an accuracy of 92.81%, while the league average was between 93 and 94 percent.

Things get worse for Bucknor when you look at the Dodgers and Angels game in 2025. When Shohei Ohtani was at the plate, Bucknor missed a low pitch and called it a strike. Broadcaster Stephen Nelson had to change the call mid-sentence and said, “Ball. Excuse me, strike one.”

Nelson later in the inning trolled after another missed call by saying, “Ball four for the strikeout!”

Another historic night came in the Rockies-Athletics game, where he had almost 15 wrong calls. Those numbers add context to fan frustration even while recognizing the difficulty of calling strikes. Moments like this make a strong case for ABS and fans’ frustration.

MLB fans vent their anger at C.B. Bucknor

MLB fans see C.B. Bucknor making bad calls and want him to leave MLB alone. “CB should’ve retired before ABS. Dude is gonna get embarrassed this season,” one frustrated fan wrote.

This frustration is justified because of the season-high 28 missed calls he had in the Cardinals-Reds game in 2025. During the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he was widely regarded as one of the worst umpires in the league.

“Enough already. Let the computers work on the games,” one fan wrote. This fan approves of the MLB’s decision to include the ABS for the 2026 season. According to him, it would drastically reduce the duration of the games if umpires were removed from behind the plate.

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“CB is gonna realize how bad he is this year at calling balls and strikes and probably retire,” one fan said, laughing. The sarcasm reflects Bucknor’s past controversies, including the incident with Max Scherzer. During the 2025 game between the Jays and the Guardians, Scherzer mocked Bucknor’s strike calls by pretending to flip a coin and saying that is how Bucknor makes his calls.

“He’s gonna retire after this year, Fs,” one fan wrote while reacting to C.B. Bucknor’s recent calls. Critics frequently point out the 2017 Nationals-Braves game, where Bucknor changed a clear strikeout to a foul ball. Even the replay angles showed the batter missing by a mile. Yet the umpires, after a brief discussion, stood by the call.

“I’d pay good money to watch Angel Hernandez umpire a game with the ABS in place,” one fan wrote online. The comment references Angel Hernandez, who has long been criticized for several high-profile officiating mistakes. In 2018 ALDS Game 3, four of Hernandez’s five first-base calls were overturned by replay.

C.B. Bucknor’s record keeps fueling the ABS debate as technology promises sharper accountability behind home plate.