bsutherland1018

As others have said, as long as there is no ambiguity about what you're calling it's fine. To enhance the differentiation between ball and strike you shouldn't move at all when you call a ball until you come out of your stance and the call should only be loud enough for the batter and the catcher to hear it, everyone else will get the idea.

With a balk each runner is awarded one base but if the batter puts the ball in play the runners may adance beyond their reward at their own risk. So in this situation r2 had advanced to 3B (his award) and then continued. Since he reached his award and R1 and BR are safe at their respective bases the balk is nullified and the play stands. Balks are a difficult area to understand because they can get complicated quickly; just ask yourself "did all runners, including the batter runner advance one base safely?" If the answer is yes then the balk is nullified regardless of what happens afterwards.

For BOO the defense has until the next pitch, play or attempted play to notice the BOO. A play is a legitimate attempt to retire a batter or runner, so as long as they don't make a throw to stop the steal or try to pick off the runner going back then they can still call BOO. If they do make a throw then they're out of luck. If all else fails, remember that common sense and fair play should dictate your decision.

It's a fantastic opportunity if you can afford to do it. For those of you who are young I recommend it!

It wasn't easy, to be sure! Really hard to break myself of my playing instincts (move towards the ball) and watch what's going on everywhere. But I learned a ton and am excited to be a part of baseball again.

Hello all of my new umpire brothers! My name is Ben and I just finished training at the Wendelstedt Umpire Academy. I had a blast, and learned more about umpiring than I ever thought existed! Now that I am finished with school and we're looking down the barrel at upcoming baseball, I'm looking to get involved in high school or college baseball and a friend from school suggested I start here. I live in the Denver area, but understand that some travel may be necessary. If anybody has contact information regarding pretty much anything going on please pass it along. Thanks and I look forward to being a part of this community! Ben