JonnyCat

I agree. They do have a lot invested in her, mostly from a PR standpoint, IMO. Almost a no win for MLB. I think that MLB may have painted themselves in a corner. If they release her, outrage will most assuredly erupt from the media. If they hire her and she doesn't develop/perform well, then that's some backlash MLB probably doesn't want either.

I'm not denying any of that. I'm merely stating that Pawol will almost definitely be one of the 7 new hires next year. What ever the reasoning is, or however people feel about why it will happen, is irrelevant to me. All I said that it's probably a good bet that she will be hired. However people want to interpret that is out of my hands. I never injected politics, nor did I state why I think she will be hired. I speak for myself, and until I do, people should not make assumptions about my positions. Not saying you made assumptions about me, I'm just generalizing and providing clarity.

I don't understand what you're talking about here. Could you eleborate?

If I was a betting man, I would bet the farm that Pawol will be one of the 7 hired.

Yes, I have INT on the batter.

That might influence one's decision! 😂

Wow, there will be 7 openings in MLB next year? I guess it's a good time to be a AAA umpire and a call up. I don't know if MLB gave him any help, of course I'm sure they're not sad to see him go. I'm sure it is a number of reasons. I'm thinking it might also have something to do with ABS. One thing about ABS is that it gives umpires real time feedback, and sometimes that feedback can be real glaring. I'm sure some of them are thinking they need to tighten things up. At the pro level, If you miss a pitch by less than an inch, I'm sure most umpires won't feel bad about that. But if you miss big and the whole stadium knows it and comes down on you, I'm sure that's not a great feeling. And when Jomboy is doing a video like this about you, that's gotta mess with your game. I'm not being critical of CB as I couldn't carry his jockstrap as an umpire. I do think social media can be unfair many times and wrongly vilify people. Unfortunately, good or bad SM is imbedded in our culture. I'm just wondering if all the glaring criticism played a part in his retirement decision.

To me, wearing those sleeves is just plain smart. I don't care what anyone would say if I wore something like this (and I do). I protect my skin from the sun ALL the time, not just when I'm umpiring. People think it's a bad look? F*#K off! I'd rather try and avoid skin cancer.

Serious question, and not argumentative, are you going to call INT at all other levels? Just curious what is your way.

In that particular situation, there is not much more you can do. We often don't work in the pristine conditions of MLB umpires. The lighting, field conditions, weather conditions, often affect our games. That's a long way for a human to see the flight of a small off white ball. The only thing I can see that could have been done differently is that your partner could have gone out on that ball. IMO, it's a good idea in that situation for your partner to read this as a trouble ball and go out. I'm in no way faulting you or your partner. I'm not even sure you could have got a better angle on a ball hit like that, either. We just have to do the best we can. It's really hard to see a ball hit over a chain link fence, especially at that distance. Maybe wait a tick before calling a 2 base award? See the actions of the fielders first? If they don't throw their hands up, then use that information to your advantage. And yes, I've had trouble with balls hit over chain link fences. Don't beat yourself up.

I understand the argument behind financial access, but that's a pretty flimsy one IMO. You still have to make it to one of the MLB camps which are located in various parts of the country. You still have to make a financial commitment to attend if you live far away. Making an effort to pay and attend pro school shows a level of commitment and determination to attend. I'm not into free lunches and could care less if someone can afford umpire school or not. If you can't scrape up the $3000.00 or so to attend, I'm not sure you're even in a position to attend pro school, or make the 10 year or so commitment in the minor leagues to become an MLB umpire. And what about those that want to attend for just the training and not wanting a job in MiLB? You just shut out a bunch of people wanting to improve their skills by not allowing these types of students, and by effectively shutting down the other schools, i.e. Wendelstedt and Evans. What about the increased number of students and competition available to compete for the advanced course? MiLB just shrunk that pool. Not exactly the right way to provide increased "access" to pro school, IMO.

I totally agree with you, but that's not what I was talking about. I was merely responding to the process of how umpires are chosen to attend camp. It used to be open to everyone, but now that avenue is significantly reduced, IMO. Under the old system, you could pay your own way to one of the schools, and then have 4-5 weeks of showing off your skills, or refining them to suit what MiLB wanted. Then you were either selected to move on to the advanced evaluation course, or sent home. Under the new system, you get a half a day chance to hope you're chosen to attend school. It doesn't seem to me like that increases the available pool of prospective umpires. But I could be wrong.

I was talking about how little time they spend picking who gets to attend school. How many of the prospective attendees of the MLB camps are serious about attending pro school? If it's all of them, then the system has a better chance of working. But if not, then the chances are lower. TMIB pointed out that it's probably not just prospects that attend the camps. And you never know who is going to attend the one day camps. You may only have a small group of qualified prospects to chose from. I just think they are limiting their choices with this new system. Under the old system of paying your own way, there was already a limited pool of attendees. When I attended Wendelstedt in 2013, there was only about 160 students, and at MiLB school in 2015, there was only 88. It seems like the new system even further limits that pool. To be sure, under the old system, especially at my time at Wendelstedt, many of the students were there to learn and not necessarily want a job in MiLB. At TUS, most of the students wanted a job, but probably about 25% did not. These are just my observations and a small sample size. I get that MLB wants to now only train people that may become MiLB umpires, and maybe they feel their new method is better to realize that goal. IMO, it's shrinking the pool even further of qualified and motivated potential umpires.

Yeah, me too. Under the old system prospective umpires had to make an effort to attend the schools. It showed a certain level of commitment, and you had 4-5 weeks to show off your skills. Now, I'm wondering if you may have students that do well in the short time frame, but may not have the mettle for the actual school. The camps are basically picking the students with little evaluation time. I guess time will tell if the new system works in the long run.

I like this tactic. IMO, good game management.