Marcus6

I was initially surprised to see Rackley wasn’t on the field for a wild card or division series round when those came out

2026 LCS crews announced - Rackley got an assignment but was absent from the wild card round. Maybe he was hurt? I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before where a guy got a later assignment but wasn’t included in the prior round where umpires are picked from.

A young MLB umpire told me (recent new hire) that 200 game mark as a call up is kinda when they know and aren’t surprised. Obviously with something like this wave of retirements, there will be people hired with less than 200. Who knows?😂😀 A Traynor hire now wouldn’t be surprising since he jumped so much in MiLB but who knows how these decisions are actually being made?

My guesses are: Bacon, Ballou, Jimenez, Thomas, Jean, Austin Jones, and Metz. I’ve heard that 200 games is an important call up milestone. Bacon is a tough call (he was up for a lot of 2025 and not as much in 2026) but why keep him hanging around? And he’s older. I do think that Jaschinski, Parra, Tyler Jones, Traynor, and Pawol will be part of a future wave of new hires. I don’t see how they release Pawol.

Love the cap crease

And Ramos got absolutely drilled directly in the middle of his mask by a foul ball in today’s Cleveland/Minnesota game - seemed perfectly fine and continued.

How does one go about getting the SSK pants?

Fun post. I feel like I’m a gear junkie and operate this way anyways 😂 CP - very happy with the 13 inch Douglas. If I was starting from scratch, prob the Davis D30 Enduro or the limited edition orange one. If I could go back in time, I’d have a Carlucci made for me and buy 5 Riddell Powers Mask - Probably would have tried to grab a Nike Titanium somehow when they were hot 15 or so years ago on TV. I’m happy with the All Star FM4000 and the Davis Mirage. Shin Guards - Probably would have had a Carlucci set made but right now would be the gray Douglas shins which I have and like. I’m curious what Davis comes out with in the future. Belts - Not a big patent leather guy although I do have the typical Boston Leather belts in patent and regular leather. I’ve looked at the custom Nokona belts but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Plate Shoes - I am still partial to the first generation NB plate shoes with the steel toe - I loved those. I don’t care about a few ounces. Happy with the US Mizunos maybe I’d get a pair from Japan if I could try. Brooks Glycerin or Ghosts work good for my knees on the bases. Who remembers Tim C’s Nike plate shoe prototypes? Shirts and Pants - Love the Davis stuff, waiting for a looser fit in their BFX pro pants coming next year. I would have stocked up on the Majestic stuff (black jacket with polo blue trim, black jacket with white trim, and the Majestic zip off sleeve windbreaker). Not a Smitty fan. Would have gotten a Hardwick made Honig’s black plate coat years ago. If I wanted a black one today, I’d go with the Fechheimer at Purchase Officials. Would also like to try SSK pants. Ball Bags - Although I have sets, I’m not a huge fan of the Ump Life bags. I would have gone back to try and pick up some of the ball bags made by the original owner of Ump Attire before Jim Kirk bought them. Misc - The discontinued McDavid short sleeve mocks and tights. I did stock up on these about 20 years ago when Davis was having a close out sale and they are still in the rotation.

There’s another post about these. The Purchase Officials catalog is calling these Mizuno pro umpire turf patent. It appears they will be available at UA, Purchase Officials, and Davis (and probably more places) in 2027. It’s not clear if these are the exact shoes the MLB guys are wearing as @Chris Hickman indicated these were a special order from Mizuno’s Japan custom shoe program. I’d doubt they are the exact same but look similar.

This is the group I remember from the mid 2000s. Adrian Johnson was up for a while but not as long as those guys. He developed (it seemed) a reputation but don’t forget Angel Campos worked for a long time and then got released. Seemed to correspond to a change in the supervisors when Richie Garcia was let go - had always heard Garcia liked the confrontational cowboy type approach.

Interesting fact as a follow up. I remember this quite well as Guccione and Drake were up at the MLB level almost every day for years before being hired. Part of it was no openings and the agreement that gave Hallion, Hickox, and Davidson their jobs back. Guccione worked over 1,200 games as a call up and I believe when he was hired he only got 3 years of service time or something like that. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/chris-guccione/

I predict Krupa, Wilson, and Traynor they are high on and leapfrog some with more games. Don’t think Krupa and Wilson get hired this offseason but I think Traynor does.

One of the interesting things is her age - she is 49 per Google. If she got hired full time she would be starting at 50. For all of us who follow this, we know that is unheard of. Some have retired in their early 50s (ie Jim Reynolds). It’s also hard to see them releasing Jen after they have “invested” so much in her story.

Where is this list?

This will be interesting - would have to think Brock Ballew, Derek Thomas are in line. Also seems like Willie Traynor is a fast track and would crack this new hire group. Bacon has been up and down for a while but hasn’t been as up this year as he was last year. I felt like the hirings of guys like Mackay, Clemons, and Walsh lately were “out of left field” so who knows? Feel like James Jean and Dexter Kelley haven’t been up in a while. Also don’t think they can pass up Pawol with how much they have invested in her.