Umpire in Chief Mark Jarrett Presents:
The Tip of the Week
Tip #1
THE BASICS
Reminder to umpires: wear sunscreen and have a
water bottle, its warm out and easy to get burned and dehydrated.
Base Umpires:
Follow the runner on a multiple base hit to
outfield, cut to the infield side of the base path when doing this....so as to
stay out of the way of the batter runner.
When in position 3 and 4, still make the safe/out
call at 1
st base. Give the arm signal and say it
loud "safe/out".
Plate Umpires:
On pop up foul balls behind the plate watch the
catcher exit first and pivot away from the catcher so as not to interfere with
which way the catcher is going.
After the first inning only give pitchers 5 warm ups
to start each inning.
Tip #2
COMMUNICATION
Plate umpires say and show the ball/strike count. This
count is important to the offence and defence. The batter and coach want to
know and the pitcher and fielders benefit from knowing. So when should we say
it? Not necessary after every pitch.
Batters may be concentrating on the 3rd base coach for signals, their
own mojo, swing technique, what pitch might be coming....you get the point...
the batter has lots to think about and may have lost track and it helps them
when you remind them they have 2 strikes against!
So guideline, when the batter gets 2 strikes for sure (this keeps the
batter certain of the count) and for sure, at full count. We always say balls
first and strikes last. You can say only the numbers if you prefer ex. 2 and 2.
For now try to echo those two counts.
Base umpire communication. Mirror the signal back to the plate ump when
the plate ump shows you that 2 are out, or infield fly is in effect. That way
you both know that you both know. It becomes more fun knowing you can signal
your partner.
Tip #3
CONSIDER THIS
For Base Umps:
This week consider the safe/out call
for one second before showing your decision. That way if a ball is
dropped or juggled, with the delay you have a moment more to make the call.
Pause, read, react.
Home Plate:
Remember with a runner(s) on; your base umpire will be in Position
3 or 4, so you are the GO TO GUY for all foul calls down the lines.
On sharp hit balls near 1st or 3rd you
won't have much time to reposition, keep the head up and on the ball.
Ideally you'll take a step to line yourself up with either the first or third
base line OR have your
head on the best sight line to give you your best position to make the call.
Tip #4
GET IT RIGHT, MAKE IT RIGHT
Message to umpires: Umpire
dignity is important but never as important as being right (
Ref)
General Instructions to Umpires, p97 Official baseball Rulebook
We learn from each other and I want to share a story that happened last
night at Rotary Park with myself umpiring behind the plate. You can learn
from my mistake and my correction.
Responsibilities of an Umpire - Do you remember in the Level I course talking
about:
... object of umpiring is to get as many calls right
... if you think you may have missed something
... asking your partner for help
... Umpires are allowed to change their call
Last night I umpired a PeeWee game solo, so not with a base umpire, and
I missed a catch/no-catch call, got it totally wrong.
The situation was - None out, base runners at 1st and
2
nd. There was a soft liner hit toward shortstop
and the pitcher made an excellent play backwards to dive for the ball. I
hustled up the 3
rd base line, called it a catch. I was
wrong, just didn't know it yet!...
Well ... the play is live ... the runners were advancing on the hit
already at 3
rd and 2nd now. The defense
realizes it's been called a catch, they can get the additional 2 outs with the
runners if the runners can't retreat fast enough to tag. That's exactly
what they do. Runners out at 2
nd and 1st as
the bases were tagged before the runners got back. Triple play eh?
Well now, the 3rd base offense coach calls "time"and
says "It wasn't a catch". At the same moment the young pitcher very honestly
says "I dropped the ball." My video replay didn't show that angle
with the ball popping just out of his glove, my view of that was blocked.
But here''s the thing ... I obviously got it wrong. WHAT CAN BE DONE?
MAKE IT RIGHT! I called both coaches together ... I started the
talking ... "Here's the thing guys, I called it a catch, the pitcher says he
dropped it." ... that's when the defensive coach says, "Yeah he dropped
it." So we have agreement, it wasn't a catch.
NOW as the play developed it wasn't likely that the pitcher would ever
have gotten the runner out at 1
st... so let's do what seems the most
reasonable ... if I hadn't called it a catch, we probably would have had
all runners safe at their bases, so bases would have been loaded. I
announced that decision. Both coaches accepted that, kudos to both
coaches and the game then moved forward.
If you think you might have missed something, consult your partner or go
with the information that is presented at the time, just try to do your best to
get the call right!
Tip #5
TALKING TO COACHES
When coaches come on to the field to talk with you, hopefully it is in a respectful manner and from what I have seen that is usually the case. If you are not sure what to say or how to reply to a coach's baseball question....you can always start with
"This is what I saw coach"and
describe it. Eventually you will feel comfortable with saying "what you
saw". But for now that might not be that easy. "This is what
I saw coach" is a place to get started for a short conversation.
If you feel that conversation should be ending, I learned from one young
umpire in your ranks this year when he bravely said, "Ok coach I don't want to
talk about it anymore." And I thought that was a great way to end the
conversation. Keep that in mind through the coming month and continue to have
fun.
Tip#6
KEEPING THE GAME MOVING
To all
our junior umpires, as your comfort level and confidence grow behind the plate
and on the bases, we want you to add more skills and knowledge. So this
week, between innings,
think about keeping the game moving. How
do we do that? How long does it take from the time the last out is made on the
field until the first pitch gets thrown in the next half inning? One team
leaves the field and another takes the field. Does the umpire have anything to
do with how long this takes? Answer - YES!
The rule
book offers some guidance. The new pitcher has one minute to throw warm ups and
be comfortable on the mound. A well practiced team will have their pitcher get
down to business quickly and many teams will have either the catcher ready to
go or a coach with mask out to field the pitches. No more than eight pitches is
the guide within this one minute time frame. So that's the guidance.
How do
we, as plate umpire, then help this happen and combat delays?
-
We can
mention it during the plate meeting. "Can you
make sure
, coaches, that
if the catcher isn't ready, a coach comes out to catch. We are trying to keep
the game moving. Thanks."
- We can count the practice pitches. Ask the pitcher if he's ready. Tell the catcher how many more pitches he's got before the throw down to second. Show the pitcher the "peace" sign signalling 2 pitches to go.
- We can
offer the catcher a ball
from our ball bag when
the catcher misses a catch during warm up rather than him going off to retrieve
the missed pitch. This will speed up the warm up.
In the first and second inning, if you are checking on them
- guess what! The catcher and pitcher will know you are checking and will know
what is expected of them. Maybe the game before the umpire didn't check or keep
track of time! So we want to be fair to the players and
apply the time
rule equally to both teams.
That's fair too.
What
happens when it's not so smooth
? Let's say the pitcher arrives on the mound; he's pumped
and ready to go, but the catcher is not quite ready and no coach pops
out to catch for him or her. So lets say 30 seconds of the warm up is
already used up by the time the catcher gets out .... or the whole minute is
used up and the pitcher had to play catch with the 3
rd baseman.
In this case, and if its still early innings, when the catcher comes out and
it's their first time being very slow,
communicate with the catcher.
Tell them
"you have 6 pitches" or "you have
5 pitches"
. Use your own judgement and mention "can
you guys be quicker next inning"
, but remember to be nice! That gets
the point across better. Your feel for the game and fairness is important.
We don't
RULE games but we do provide rulings throughout a game! Even between innings.
so that time isn't wasted. So, within your own personality you will find a way
to be fair to both teams and keep the game within its time limits. The
challenges are with all age groups so this really applies to all umpires. If
you find a game maxing out its time limit ... think about it afterward, was it
because of what happened between innings? If it took 2 to 4 minutes extra each
half inning ... in a 6 inning game that's possibly 11 change overs, that adds
up quickly to a game being 20 to 30 (or more) minutes longer when it doesn'?t
need to be! With just a few gentle words and
cutting down the number of warm up pitches reasonably, you can
make a difference
.
By the
way, this is not all on you the umpire. Coaches need to comply, and
players too. We do the best that we can with some gentle reminders and
letting them know how many more warm up pitches they can have.