Umpire942

This is why im posting here. I think noempere said it was as I explained the play. But the coloring response although nice is throwing me off lol

i would think the first play, at 1st, is the most important, especially if there is no reason for PU to rotate to 3rd base on an infield ground ball

If BU misses it and runner is complaining, can you go to your partner as an appeal. (its not a pulled foot or swipe tag, so im assuming no) If its a get together, I would assume it would be a hard conversation that will end up possibly with mad coaches. If im in C, (even if I laterally shift) im not going to see this that easily IMO

It seems odd, that I have never read a case play, and missed this one for my entire time umpiring. But here is the common scenerio. Its simply a bound ground ball to a fielder and a throw for a put out a first base. The first baseman foot (and maybe even body) is standing square on the base. The only thing the runner can do is run into him, or spike him. This seems obstruction on the first baseman. But whos call is this. I would assume in almost any umpire formation, it would be the PU. Thank you

- As part of his delivery? Or does it come up as a separate movement? When he brings his hands together, not during the pitch. I didnt call this one as i thought he was still touching. I do have one more. regular stretch and set, but when hes coming set, ball and hands are not together, only at the very end do they come together. Almost everytime i have seen it, its one time mishap on the pitcher, or they try to step off.

We all know all umpire positions call balks. Sometimes we let ticky tack things go, sometimes. But I feel letting them go can get you in trouble the next game. Here are some that have come up, please let me know if i was correct. 1) from stretch position (not yet coming set), the pitcher 1) picked up his pivot foot and moved it to the corner of the rubber, 2) be slide his foot . He picked it up, I did not call it, conferred with partner he said eh, i saw it too but he stayed in contact so hes ok. 2) from the wind up, with runners on, hands together feet apart, im on the plate, pitcher moves his pivot foot to a wider stance. I called a balk. Did not get an argument, but heard "hes in the wind up how can he balk" from the crowd bla bla. 3) This is a pitche thats hard to run on. At first I had balk (didnt call it, nobody noticed either) Hes coming set, and hes rocking forward, back, forward, back, and then slides step to the plate. The first time i saw it i thought balk, not enough stop there, runner had no chance to read. Then as i continued to watch, he did it everytime (even though thats not a rule if he does it every time). I later told his father, its a nice set, but Im pretty sure its a balk, but some umpires like me will let it go (hahah). (off topic) I said if he does get called, he should roll that into a pick off , and would not be a balk and get lots of runners. 4) Hybrid stance, runners on. (i or he didnt tell me if hes in the set or the wind up), first delivery looked windup. Second looked set, and inside move to second. Do i have to ask him every time each pitch is it stretch or wind up here? 5)Stretch position, but when comes set the pivot foot heal comes up (not the toe) 6) This one is a balk, but i dont know why parents, coaches let them develop or do this. Runners on or not, they are in a stretch, come set, then wind up. The pitcher knows no other way to deliver. Do i have to run the guy off the mound balking him every time so he ends up no where near being able to throw strikes with nobody on?

Im in a very high heated game on the dish, i even had another anthem stand of, which is fine. (out of county team vs inner city team), in 1) and urban area thats always out of control fan wise, 2) the seating is literally right behind , and left and right of the plate of the fence. Im at my best for this one. I couldnt see myself missing 1 or 2 pitches at MOST, and thats not where I got the noise from. Its later in the game, secondar pitchers come in. slider breaks late and outside corner. I stay down, call ball. (each side this is happening). Eventually, I see the slider or curve break sooner and hit the bottom better (as the pitcher adjusted) and i start calling strikes. An inning later i get screaming your letting them call the game. Game ends 9-4. fyi, a pitch came in over the plate even batter leans is arm in. Call time and strike, and i get your let them call the game from the other side. I need something to respond to this specific if there is a good one. I called a very good game.

ok to twist noodles.. Maybe my partner was thinking he was doing a windup? i cant remember the situation. He was one of the weird pitchers. That with nobody on. Does the stretch on the mound, and then starts the wind up. Since this pitcher does both. The stretch becomes almost the same to him. Now of course my partner the BU would need to know if he is pitching stretch or windup no?

This is exactly why i brought this up, as the coach situation could happen. Thankfully this was not a high stakes game, although these are 18/17u travel school system teams, just getting reps All above average talent, but didnt want to let this kid go knowing , somebody is gonna call balks here, even if its a legit balk, or not. (on the first two examples) The third example was one i picked out that I never balk, but never saw this crap my age, so was like how is this fair to runner question, and finally wanted to ask wtf as a general question

When he said two pumps, thats what I thought he was referring to but lost me. Baybe he means the "up and down to belt, up and down to belt" action if continuous would not be a balk

"it hit their bucket!"

usually especially on steals, we give catcher the right of way and grab batters INT. runners dont get much leeway in batted ball situations. But what about on a bunt out of the box and one person is going after the ball and the batter is running the other way to first base?

- if a pitcher is in the set position comes together hands at his waste, but (does the opposite) and goes straight to a high set (without stopping) is that not a balk? Obviously if he stops its a balk. Thats what i saw as PU. He then did it again and i didnt see a stop again. Finally he just came to one set. Post game my veteran partner says hes allowed "two pumps" . He did agree with if he stopped it would have been a balk. - from stretch pitcher looks in at signs , starts the stretch to come set but then goes back down to look at signs again. sometimes its very subtle too. where the foot might not move but body did. - pitchers coming to stretch, but walking a ladder. Sometimes its 2 sometimes, its 4 (stop and starts) I dont have this as a balk, but as a runner is that not deceiving? I know as umpires thats not how we are to say or think that way. But right now im thinking as a runner.

i said "step and a reach" doing 1 man one time on a pickle play. I ran out there he avoided tag somehow and said this term. Coach said thats softball. I mistakenly said I do know anything about softball. Welp, he then said I no nothing about baseball. We can all pretty much guess what went happen on from there.

overall to me, if the fielder attempts a tag, and hes not taggable, hes out. If he didnt tag him thats different. But if you want to make an argument. Lets talk about the pickle play on steriods,and bring up the skunk play(1st and 3rd). R1 takes a position way out of the base line, and base path. Is he out? no. As long as he runs a straight line to a base ( or straight period), hes legal. Each play on him, he can take a different path.

can this post be pinned forever? - Read the rules and case books over and over - read this forum - watch close call sports channel , youtube there is even one for little league and high schools, on plays that might not have happened to you yet. - find a mentor - find umpire friends and talk about games - camps - camps

who is ejected the 1) "player personel" who put the prop on (who could be a trainer who knows) or 2) the player who just hit that home run and the trainer put the prop on his head, and technically isnt guilty, but the ejection is actually a player 5-2-d Penalty says "offending players" after 1st warning

9-3-k, but again the question says legs. Im think things like nester cortez i guess.

When using either the windup or the set position to deliver a pitch, the pitcher’s raised leg starts going down towards the ground, then comes back up, then down again before finishing the delivery. I have this as a balk. The rule book only allows arms. I got one of these answers wrong on the test, so im fishing here. This is a balk no

Thats interesting, because they always want to know what they did, the pitcher, and the coach. I usually tell them start and stop, or not stop, moved, flinched, stepped off wrong foot etc. I know your getting MLB umpire and such. But this is not that level here.

Ruleset preferable FED, but if any differ please let me know Usually once a year or 2, I hear a coach, bark at me , when a pitcher, out of no where, starts to dangle his leg out, out of the ordinary. "Hey I have runners on base blue!" So, even though PU can call this, this for sure is the BU primary job as we know. So of course we need to know if Did he STOP or NOT Is that all? I mean yes Nester Cortez mixes it up, and other MLB pitcher do their funky junk, and its legal as they dont stop. Why do they do this, well it messes with the batter, and it does indeed, deceive runners (legally or not) I have not called it, and i have called it. When did i call it? When it came out of nowhere, and it didnt look fluid and came to some kind of pause. When did i not call it? I wasnt paying attention and dont know if he stopped or not. Yes you can respond with the rule. Thats fine, I want that. Especially if one differs from LL, FED, NCAA, OBA But also would like somebody's 2 cents on the matter on proper response to coaches. No matter what its a judgement call. If I believe he stopped, its a BALK, if i dont, or didnt see it, its NOT. Thats my 50 cents 😃

written rule in Rule 6.02(a) (skipped to ball 4 exception) "When a balk is made on a pitch that is a fourth ball it shall be ruled the same as when the batter hits a balk pitch and is safe on a hit or error, provided all runners advance at least one base on the play. Therefore, with a runner on first, first and second, or first, second and third, when a balk is called on the fourth ball, the batter goes to first base and all runners advance at least one base. If they attempt to advance more than one base, they do so at their own risk. However, if first base is not occupied and all other runners do not advance at least one base on the play, the balk penalty prevails: The ball is dead; the batter returns to the batter’s box and assumes the same ball and strike count as before the balk pitch; and all runners are allowed to advance one base as penalty for the balk. Note that in cases where a pitcher balks and throws wild, either to a base or to home plate, a runner may advance beyond the base to which such runner is entitled by the balk, at his own risk." I sent the batter to first on a balk with man on 1st, and all of a sudden i hear crown saying it was a balk. I dont listen to them. I do remember reading this rule. My partner then wants to speak with me (im plate) He was too fast and i could not explain to him that ball 4 counts on balks.... and pointed the batter back to plate. I poorly communicated to him saying I asked about this "on live balk he gets the base". I couldnt calm him down to articulate above, and he already ran away so, i just sent him back. Next pitch ball 4 so whatever. I usually dont talk to the crowd , but i said I was right go look it up. "Ok blue you know everything, you could have ruined the game" Of course rabbit ears inbetween innings, oh looks his right. Anyway thats not the point, let me get to the question. 1) 1st and 3rd (which is not in the rule) im assuming thats batter back in box and man on R1 to 2b and R3 to home, dead ball. 2) on ball 4 balks as long as there is a man on 1st and runners are in a force position, and catcher catches the ball. the play is live. balk is ignored, and ball is live? 3) what happens if ball 4 is not caught with man on 1st (should be the same live ball, ball 4 no?) (non ball 4 situations) 4) HBP the batter has to hit again? (if runner on 2nd only?) he has to hit again? bit confused 5) drop 3rd strike with man on second 6) Runner(s) steal, the balk is ignored and ball is live? (not ball 4 scenario) anything else im missing?

@MadMax You have allot of valid points. But not all umpires are built the same. Yes for an assigner there are pros to 6 same umpires at same field. But there is also cons. - The later games, which sometimes on the last day is the semis and championship you might have a worn out umpire. - Injury, heat exhaustion - snubbing out umpires who just cannot do 6 and 6, and will work somewhere else ending up in a churn of your crew. So when they complain umpire shortage, its not just because of the shortage, you lost your crew because they left or let other assigners in , in which they are no longer dedicated to the assigner. The first bullet point i think is the most important.

Here is the major example and why i am bringing this thread up. Game 12 on a double 6 weekend this summer, there was a pitching change. I said count is 2 and 1. Indicator was at 2 and 1. After the delay, i said 2 and 1... play. Then foul ball , ball, and (non punch out) strike 3, batter stays in box. Then ball 4, batter goes to first. Coach (who asks for time, who was probably looking for a double play) says you said 2 and 1, he was out. Im like sh*t your right , batter your out, runner go back. Other coach refuses, multiple times, to me, and partner. Normally, I would be like ok coach thats what you want to do? When i say play ball, im calling outs. But because i was tired, I said ok we will sit here. As he wanted to call into the league. 20 minutes and only my partner arguing later, we have an out and runner moves back. The team that brought up the out, was trailing and lost 20 minutes of possible another inning, as they were coming back and lost by one run. Obviously i will not be that lazy again, and im normally all over coaches, even if its my mistake.