When do you make a nontraditional verbal

[Umpire in Chief]

The U3K thread got me thinking about this.

What are the situations you've encountered where you've had to make a nontraditional verbal call.

One situation I had in a JV game was the batter took a big hack at a pitch but barely made contact. It bounced off the plate then came to rest 3-4 ft up the first base line - fair. Neither the batter or catcher were doing anything.

I just pointed towards the mound (what I do when the ball is in close to the plate and actually pointing fair could be mis-interpreted based on perception) and then said firmly "Play it."

It still took them a second to realize what was going on.

[grayhawk]

I wouldn't exactly call it nontraditional, but on a declared infield fly where the ball is not caught, it''s a good idea to verbally reinforce that the batter is still out after the ball hits the ground:

Ball is hit high to F4, and at the apex the umpire decides it is an IFF and calls it, "Infield fly, batter's out!". Ball is dropped and the umpire declares again loudly, "He's out! He's still out!"

[johnnyg08]

it depends on the level of baseball. Most rule sets make it very clear that teams are responsible for knowing the situation and the rules of IFF...yes, it can be good preventative officiating...but sometimes the less you say can also be better. That being said, YMMV.

In this situation...you might want to consider pointing at the batter/runner and saying "batter is out" instead of "he's out"

[mstaylor]

I have been in the situation that UIC mentions, most of the times I just point and shut up. I did once in a Pony game say,"Guys, it's live."