kylehutson

Against? Not really Preferred? No This was brought up at a college-level clinic. And the assigners there were pretty adamant that any umpire worth having would have time to move over on a hit ball to get a good angle on the "likely play" at first base without sacrificing the look you would get at a steal of 3rd (R1 and R2), pickoff at 3rd (bases loaded), or back-pick at 3rd (R3 only or bases loaded).

I'm not qualified to judge that, but can say that this isn't evidence. 🤣

Can't speak for the OP, but in my state, the only criteria for state tourney games is number of coach recommendations. They tell us in preseason meetings that we need to make correct calls and not worry about what coaches think of us, but then take a look at the incentives. The umpires who consistently work state tournaments know the assigners, and rarely see a team twice in a season so as to maximize the number of possible recommendations. Sour grapes? Nah, I didn't want any anyway. 🤣

I would at least ask the question "what makes you think this bat is illegal?" and then check that claim for validity. Seems like a pretty easy thing to address at that point.

I signal before each pitch, but don't verbalize. I only verbalize if the scoreboard is wrong, and then only loud enough for the catcher and batter.

Odd you bring this up this year. I finished last-season with a 4-day state (Legion) tournament in the first week of August, and I was tired after a college season starting in Feb., high school at the end of the school year, rolling into Legion, showcase, and college summer leagues over the summer. I've been tired before, but not to that extent. Usually by the time spring rolls back around, I can't wait to get back out on the field. This year was more "meh". I mean, I had a few games that I thoroughly enjoyed, but most of them I was just counting outs until I could go home again. I just started a new job a couple of weeks ago, and this summer I'm going to leverage that lack of built-up vacation time to backing WAY off. I'm going to cap it at 2-3 days a week, whereas last summer I know I had one stretch of 17 straight days. 2 nights ago, I had my last game scheduled for nearly 4 weeks. I might just continue this trend.

I fold them inside out and stick them back into my lineup card holder. Then I take them to the next game and that's where I track visits, make notes of any weird situations or something to review later, courtesy runners, numbers of all the jerseys leaving the dugout to fight, or whatever else I might need to write down. When THAT game is done, I pitch them and repeat.

Youth baseball: "Coach" and "Blue" are perfectly acceptable, especially for those tournaments where you might see several in a day. I still try to call my coaches (and catchers) by their first names, but I don't get upset if they don't remember mine. As I've moved up, I find that at higher levels, there is more respect, and as @Kevin_K said, that means first names, especially for those that we're working directly with (coaches and catchers). In high school varsity, I always call coaches by their first names, and 90+% of the time, they address me by mine.[1] In college, if a coach calling me anything other than my name would be unacceptable. [1] Just this last week, I had a first. A high school second-baseman called me by my name when asking if I could move. This was a local school and I knew a couple of the kids on the team since they were little tikes, but didn't know him.

So does that make your car ALWAYS smell like pee?

Nope. If that call is made it should be obvious to everybody on the field what is going on It doesn't hurt. But again, they would have to be 100% absolutely positively sure that the foot was outside the box AND not in the air at the moment that the ball it struck. I have called this twice in my umpiring career. The first time was coach-pitch (so I didn't have to watch for balls and strikes) and the batter lined up at the very, very front of the batters box. Calling it was still a SH*#storm. The other was a bunt when the pitch was far in the other batters box and the batter stepped completely in front of me. THAT time I didn't hear any complaining.

Not enough information to give a definitive answer, but this should explain it... Fair/foul is determined by the position of the ball (not the fielder) when the determination is made. So when is the determination made? Either When a ball that hasn't touched the ground is first touched by a fielder When a ball first touches the ground or player beyond 1st or 3rd base (Not applicable to this play) when the ball leaves the field (e.g., a home run) So if the ball hasn't touched the ground, and the ball is in foul territory when touched by the first baseman (regardless whether his feet are in fair territory or not), that would be a foul ball. (I think this is the situation you're describing, but I'm trying to be thorough.) If the ball has touched the ground prior to it reaching the base (regardless whether it touched the ground in fair or foul territory), and it passes over or inside the base as it goes by, it's a fair ball (again, regardless of where either the ball or the fielder are). Otherwise, it's a foul ball.

He is forced off of first base until the out is made on the batter-runner. So the order matters here. If F3 tags the runner first, then touches the base, both are out. If F3 touches the base first, the batter-runner is out, and R1 is no longer forced, so he's safe if tagged while touching the base.

I resemble that remark!

I noticed. Just didn't have a clever appropriate reaction gif in mind for that one

More accurately...

I have one college assigner that says "you can wear any color you want, as long as it's black". Personally, I like gray. Cooler than dark colors, but doesn't show the dirt like cream.

I know some states write their own, but Kansas does the same as you. They give us the entire unmodified NFHS test ahead of time, and then we go online to fill it out for-realsies.

I'm guessing you met our own @Aging_Arbiter (Bill) at WWUA, as well as my friend Steve McCormick. Welcome!

But it works. (And apologies for responding further off-topic)

So not a fan of sloshball then?

For several years in KS, we have been instructed to have a stopwatch for the period between innings. 60 second timer starts when the last defensive player leaves the field. At 20 seconds left, BU goes to A position. And we are to give leeway if the pitcher or catcher was at bat or on the bases at the end of the inning. Here is where you're wrong. Blue, red, and purple are absolutely flavors of Gatorade, Kool-Aid, and snow cones

That's not the issue. The issue is that I (and apparently several others) think that this is a legal windup position, not a set position. Thus it's legal.

Watching today's Billy Haze video left me with a question, and I think I'm missing something. At 3:54 a pitcher from Creighton starts with his pivot foot parallel to the pitching rubber, generally facing 3B, hands together, takes a step to the side, and then pitches the ball. Quote: "Notice the pitcher is working out of the set" and then details things that would be illegal from the set, including that he can't start from the set with his hands together. At 6:26 a pitcher from Virginia starts with his pivot foot parallel to the pitching rubber, generally facing 3B, hands together, takes a step to the side, and then pitches the ball. Quote: "In this clip the pitcher starts with hands together, which indicates they are working from the windup position" What am I missing here?

That sounds good in theory. But then where does the 45° mark start? It should be from his back foot, but he may be barely touching the pitcher's plate on the 3B side, or the 1B side. I can easily think of many obviously-no-balk situations that would be called in this case. And then there's the other obvious issue with dirt mounds and how to draw the lines.