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Were the three balks with umpires you knew or associated with and did you try to correct their misunderstanding then or even after you got our cites? If not just acknowledge in thread that you weren't sure the three balks were major kicks of an infielder legally throwing to a fielder and if there was no disengagement your reference to 6.02(a)(4) would not make it a balk for an engaged pitcher.

As I said before the mods deleted the part of the thread where you demeaned me, I didn't say I balked them. What I did say (right there in the OP. Go ahead and re-read it. I'll wait.) was that I had seen them called balks in three separate games. Big difference.

I read this and couldn't get through it all of the way. Tying the ABS to betting, I mean, bringing up and trying to compare how the ABS would help deterring the current scandal where the bet was whether a pitcher would throw a ball on the first pitch to a batter? And then saying its harder to throw a strike to Altuve than Judge? These are MLB pitchers who should have pinpoint accuracy. Really? its harder to throw a low strike to Altuve than Judge? Altuve's strike zone is between 17.8" and 35" while Judge's is 21.33" and 41.87". A MLB pitcher doesn't have the control to throw it 4 inches lower? or 6 inches higher? The pitchers imagine the strike zone on these players and throw to their physical traits. And its hard to compare this, the Altuve's walk rate is 7% in 8696 plate appearances while Judges is 16% and one could argue, one way or the other, that Judge's B/S judgement is better ( I wouldn't) or could it be that the Judge is the more dangerous hitter and they stay out of his strike zone? Either way, I don't judge its their physical makeup that makes it harder to throw strikes to one and not the other. OK, OK, Altuve has a strike zone of 630 sq in while Judge's is 882 sq in. Yes, Judge's is bigger but grooving one down the middle to either one is dangerous. I would contend its harder to throw a strike to one over the other due to their inherent skill set and not their physical traits. And will the ABS make teams keep the more offensive catcher because framing the pitch would be less important? I don't know how the ABS will help that decision. The batter doesn't see how a catcher is framing the ball!!!! They are only using their senses to determine if they think its a ball or strike. If the catcher can steal strikes on the non-challenged pitches, why wouldn't they do that? Over a hundred pitches are thrown by a team in a given game. There will only be three challenges (maybe a few more if the challenges are correct and they get to keep them). It should be a situational decision on whether to challenge or not (bases loaded, 2 outs borderline pitch - are you allowing the batter to challenge? Does this change between it happening In the first inning or last inning? Four hole hitter or .200 hundred hitter?) How does the decision to keep a more defensive catcher depend on the ABS? Anyways, the author's arguments are asinine, IMHO. Well, back to tweezing hair out of my ears this lovely Saturday morning...

Regarding the OBR Collision rule...what issues, if any, would there be to adding an ejection provision to the penalty part of the rule for OBR based amateur leagues?

In the Frontier League example...does the game really end 1-0? I understand that if the defense gets their three outs, that the score is still tied. So I thought I read that the score reverts to 1-0? Could that be right? Once the game is over...what is the final score?

nice article - full ABS - the sooner the better for all levels of play https://sports.yahoo.com/article/gambling-scandals-could-press-mlb-130000988.html

Most of the time, I strongly encourage new umpires to follow their comfort level on things like this. The rest of the time I have to stop allowing them to sell themselves short. Sometimes we are ready even if we think we aren't.

Looking at a potential move east and trying to get the lay of the land. Would love to talk to anyone in the area that does youth and HS ball.

(Few days late here lol) Yeah I think I'd need to see how intense/demanding HS ball is and figure it out from there, definitely want well-played games but if I'm feeling overwhelmed or otherwise not great about the vibes of HS games then a u12 rec game be a welcome change of pace for me. Development vs having a nice time at the diamond is definitely something where I'll see how I feel as I continue to progress in this, learning from a higher level of play can only go so far if the vibes don't feel great during the games

Just got back from San Bernadino LL week long clinic. Two MiLB umpires came to help for a day or two (in addition to the one that was there the entire time). They both circled back to my Mirage w/ gray socks 2-3 times to give it the goo-goo eyes. One fellow student also fell in love with it.

Was in week long clinic so just getting to this now. Yes, the offensive manager picks who leads off.

So, @834k3r, @BigBlue4u, @JimmyK have slinked off, not acknowledging their misunderstanding of the rules. Or perhaps for reinforcement of their errors which can come from their cohorts saying everybody knows that's a balk.

MAG pads gone, Gerry Davis Universals still available.

And the reason for this is that it's a clock violation for not making a legitimate attempt to retire the runner.

It’s not so much an outright rule, but more of an analogy derived from a/the rule. Let’s hop around the diamond, shall we? Assume the base is occupied, and that all feints / throws are direct, w/o stepping off or disengaging first. Can you feint to 1B? No, in all codes. You must throw to the base. Thus, you must throw to the fielder covering the Runner at the base (R1). Can you feint to 3B? No, in OBR and NCAA, you cannot. Therefore, if you do throw, just like at 1B, you must throw to the base (granted, there are violation interpretations on where the fielder is when receives the throw). However, in NFHS, you can (still) feint towards 3B. Thus, any throw towards 3B (in NFHS) has no requirement on where the fielder receives it… because F1 didn’t have to throw to begin with. Now, to 2B… in all codes, you can feint to 2B, without any requirement to throw. The act of stepping / making a move towards 2B is the legal disengagement. With that act, F1 is now a fielder, and can throw “anywhere”. There just happens to be an additional wrinkle each in the OBR and NCAA codes. - In OBR, when using Time Clock Rules, it counts against the number of disengagements; the 3rd disengagement without put-out of a/the Runner → Balk. - in NCAA, a disengagement without throw is marked as a “reset”. The 2nd marked reset → Ball added to the count. In order to prohibit defenses from skirting the rule, and throwing to a fielder not in any position to make a play on the Runner (typically R2), NCAA authorized a Ball penalty (not a Balk penalty) to be directly applied.

PM’d you. I’ll get the AS pads from you.

The player on the "lineup card immediately preceding the batter due up will start on first base." https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2284449

starting with that plate meeting https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/sports/how-hard-can-umpiring-a-real-baseball-game-be/vi-AA1OHb2s

I did find this: https://ballparkdigest.com/2022/01/24/frontier-league-adds-sudden-death-tiebreaker-to-extra-innings-games-in-2022/ Frontier League adds sudden-death tiebreaker to extra-innings games in 2022 By Ballpark Digest Editors on January 24, 2022 in Independent Baseball, News It will be a two-part process to decide extra-innings games in 2022 for the Frontier League, beginning with an international tiebreaker and then ending up with a sudden-death tiebreaker. The exact process: If a game is tied at the end of play (nine innings for a traditional game and seven innings for a doubleheader game), there will be one inning played under International Tiebreaker (ITB) rules. The ITB rules were used by MLB in 2020, where a runner would begin the inning at second base and each side would be given the chance to take the lead. After the ITB inning, play will shift to a sudden-death tiebreaker. Here’s the description from the MLB Partner League: Field managers will meet with umpires with the home manager choosing offense or defense. For the team on offense, the player on the lineup card immediately preceding the batter due up will start on first base. The defensive team will have three outs to prevent the offense from scoring. If the team on offense scores they will win the game, while if the defensive team retires the side without scoring a run, they will win. As with the ITB runner, if the runner placed on first base scores, the run will be unearned. The rule was first proposed by former Florence field manager Dennis Pelfrey, who currently manages in the San Francisco Giants’ organization. It was refined by a committee of Frontier League managers and administrators, including managers Andy McCauley of Evansville, Quebec’s Pat Scalabrini, and Ottawa’s Bobby Brown. “While sudden death will not happen every game, we believe when it does it will have the fans on their feet,” commented Kevin Winn, Deputy Commissioner for On-Field Operations, via press release. “Created by a former manager, this initiative received overwhelming support of our current field managers and Rules Committee.” One big advantage for the new rule: The sudden death rule guarantees that no game will be played beyond 10.5 innings or beyond 8.5 innings for a doubleheader game. There’s been plenty of tinkering with extra-inning rules in 2020 and 2021, ranging from MLB’s embrace of the ITB rules to the MLB Partner League Pioneer League in 2021 scrapping extra innings and instead launched a head-to-head, “sudden death” home-run duel to settle ties, a move league officials described as being popular with fans.

Oh come on... you teed it up so nicely.... ok.... I don't know.

All jokes aside...who is the runner on 1B?

When you say manager pick, is it the offensive manager?

You do need to know. The applicable rule in OBR is 6.02(a)(2) which prohibits feints to first or third but not second. But if you still have doubts we can cite the Major League Baseball Umpire Manual (MLBUM) which has interps and clarifications for their rules. My Bold: "60. BALK REGULATIONS Rule 6.02(a): A balk shall be called audibly (“Balk!” or “That’s a balk!”) and by pointing laterally at the pitcher. However, the ball is not dead automatically when this call is made. The ball becomes dead only when the umpire calls “Time” following the call of balk, and the call of “Time” is to be made only when play stops (i.e., when it is apparent that all runners including the batter-runner will not advance one base). REGULATIONS: (a) The pitcher shall be charged with a balk if, while in contact with the rubber, he throws to a fielder who is either in front of or behind first or third base and obviously not making an attempt at retiring the runner at that base. However, there is no violation if the pitcher throws the ball directly to first or third base in this situation. (Also see next paragraph in this section.) (b) There is no violation if a pitcher attempts a legal pickoff at second base and, seeing no fielder covering the bag, throws to a fielder, who is neither in the vicinity of the bag nor making an actual attempt to retire the runner." NCAA is the same as OBR. High School still allows feints to 3B also.

I am sorry, I hate baseball myths, and so may I ask what rule you are using to state: "If you can feint to a base from the rubber you can throw to a fielder off the base." I, in no way, am trying to start anything, I just need to know. Thanks.

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