Umpire Pet Peeves (edited old misspelling was driving me crazy)

[Umpire in Chief]

• Sloppiness
  • appearance
  • mechanics
• Lack of hustle
  I don't care if your going to the wrong place, just go there with a purpose and some pep in your step
• "Dead Ball"
• Not putting the ball into play correctly
• Calling time unnecessarily
• Over selling routine plays
• Long plate meetings
• Cleaning the plate with your butt pointing anywhere but to the mound
• Cleaning bases/pitcher's plate
• Not paying attention
  (I actually had to tell a catcher I wasn't going to appeal a close half swing because my partner was in la-la land)
• Partners who are there to socialize with every coach and parent in the complex.
• Partners when you give them feedback have an excuse for EVERYTHING.
• Partners who want to give clinics to coaches and players about their call.
• Leave water/sport drink bottles on the field
• Stare at their indicator
• Partners who always have an excuse to not work the plate
• BU's wandering like a lost puppy between innings
• PU's who don't manage time between innings
• Partners who don't give it to me straight.
  If I ask if I kicked a call or what they thought about a play, tell me I'm a big boy and can take it. 
• Partners who look for things to call. (Being OOO) 
• Who are looking for ejections
• BU with indicator
• Narcissistic partners
• Need to get together every half inning
• Bring a cell phone on the field

Well, that's enough for now, I'm really not that awful to work with...

[ZebraStripes]

1) When a batter is HBP...PU says, "Dead Ball!"

 

​As a result of this website, I have stopped doing that.  I picked it up from umpires doing games while I was coaching and had never heard any different (That I remember)

[ZebraStripes]

OK guys, when cleaning the plate, call time or let the players play while cleaning the plate?

[ElkOil]

OK guys, when cleaning the plate, call time or let the players play while cleaning the plate?

​I clean it without calling time, but the players aren't playing, per se.  The ball is live, however.  I wait for the playing action to stop.

[Tksjewelry]

OK guys, when cleaning the plate, call time or let the players play while cleaning the plate?

​Both. I call time if it's buried after a slide home or if the pitcher is pick off happy. If it needs a quick cleanup in between batters and play has relaxed, I don't call time. I read the game and decide. 

[TheRockawayKid]

From a coaches perspective, 

This has happened with me 3 different times. 

I have had different Umpires with a huge strike zone on an 9-12U teams. Overall it is fine as long as it is consistent, we teach our hitters to adjust to the umpires strike zone, they are all different, and hit and pitch accordingly. I have after the game asked or commented (very nicely I might add) that I thought the zone was especially large but overall we were fine with it. Three different umpires over the last year have said they like to make the younger teams "hitters" and they don't like to see too many walks. I commented that wasn't really their job and all have said they were just helping them swing the bat.

 

Personally I have a lot of problems with that approach from umpires. One it makes two assumptions that are offensive; 1) it assumes that a team is full of non hitters, most umpires have never seen the team and really don't know if they are hitters or not, and 2) it assumes that the coach is incapable of teaching them how to be hitters and it is left up to umpires fill that void. If umpires want to make hitters out of grade schoolers they should coach a team and not umpire. In my opinion it is an umpires job to establish a consistent strike zone and call that zone throughout the game. Hitting and pitching should be irrelevant to how that zone is called. It is up to my players and coaches to adjust to that zone and the pitchers to pitch to that zone and the hitters to swing at pitches in that zone.

 

I am curious if this is discussed or is prevalent in other areas. Maybe I have had the only three umpires with this thought that they are helping a team hit by not allowing too many walks with young pitchers who are having a hard time finding the plate. 

​Draw me the strike zone you'd like to see for a 9-12U. Hell, for a 15U. 

Now draw me the area that you think your 9-12U pitcher can hit most of the time. I doubt it's the same size. You call the former, I'll call the latter. I'm pretty sure my game will be a better one. 

[TheRockawayKid]

​

• Partners who want to give clinics to coaches and players about their call.

Well, that's enough for now, I'm really not that awful to work with...

​I'll do this — pulling aside a coach between innings, for example — if the coach is confused about the rule book and he's a nice guy. The other day, I had to explain what the "thrown ball out of play" rule really is to an assistant, for example, because he thought that the opposing runner (2nd base TOP) should have stayed at third. 

[Rich Ives]

​Draw me the strike zone you'd like to see for a 9-12U. Hell, for a 15U. 

Now draw me the area that you think your 9-12U pitcher can hit most of the time. I doubt it's the same size. You call the former, I'll call the latter. I'm pretty sure my game will be a better one. 

​You think the game is only pitchers? How is a 4'9" kid with a 28" bat supposed to hit an "outside" pitch that full size adults with 35" bats find difficult to hit?

[ricka56]

​You think the game is only pitchers? How is a 4'9" kid with a 28" bat supposed to hit an "outside" pitch that full size adults with 35" bats find difficult to hit?

​Sometimes (rarely) you'll see an umpire call a strike that is 11 inches (28'-17") outside. Sometimes you get an umpire that you wish you'd have every game. Umpire assignments are like a box of chocolates.

[Rich Ives]

​Sometimes (rarely) you'll see an umpire call a strike that is 11 inches (28'-17") outside. Sometimes you get an umpire that you wish you'd have every game. Umpire assignments are like a box of chocolates.

​You're kidding right? Either that or you don't know a batter's body position at the time of contact. 6'4" pros with 34" bats can't reach a pitch 6" outside. Why on earth would you think a small kid with a short bat could?

[ricka56]

​You're kidding right? Either that or you don't know a batter's body position at the time of contact. 6'4" pros with 34" bats can't reach a pitch 6" outside traveling at 95mph. Why on earth would you think a small kid with a short bat could hit that pitch going 45mph?

​I'm confused...What point that I made do you think I am kidding about:
1. You rarely see an umpire call a pitch 11 inches off the plate a strike:
2. Sometimes you get an umpire who's KZ you like; or
3 Umpire assignments are like a box of chocolates.

I'm betting its #2.

[TheRockawayKid]

​You think the game is only pitchers? How is a 4'9" kid with a 28" bat supposed to hit an "outside" pitch that full size adults with 35" bats find difficult to hit?

Until they're 17 or so, yes, the game is about pitchers. Pitching is the difference between a crisp game and a walkfest that leads into a defensive cluster-mess. 

​If he's 4'9", he has about 4 feet of bat and arm to get the outside pitch from his body. The best coaches tell their hitters to go with the pitch to right field, stay in, and just put the bat on the ball. And you know what? A hitter finds a way to actually do that. And remember that they're learning to hit at this age, not develop an eye and not walk. 

I have no qualms about my strike zone being generous. I also find that most coaches, catchers and pitchers like it too. I'm consistent with my zone. I have seen one no-hitter in my years — an adult team, and the team no-hit lost! — and have come to the understanding that it's a heckuva lot easier for a hitter to adjust with his large stick than it is for a pitcher to suddenly find location. 

Adults with 35" bats find it difficult to hit because either a) the pitch is nasty, or b) they're whiny. I find b) to be the more accurate answer. 

[TheRockawayKid]

​You're kidding right? Either that or you don't know a batter's body position at the time of contact. 6'4" pros with 34" bats can't reach a pitch 6" outside. Why on earth would you think a small kid with a short bat could?

​You mean like this home run Vlad hit? 

[Umpire in Chief]

OK guys, when cleaning the plate, call time or let the players play while cleaning the plate?

​If I can get away with cleaning it w/o time I do. 

[ZebraStripes]

​If I can get away with cleaning it w/o time I do. 

​Reason I ask, I had play relaxed, didn't call time, came around and cleaned the plate, and look up after getting it clean to a runner streaking home.  

[TheRockawayKid]

​Reason I ask, I had play relaxed, didn't call time, came around and cleaned the plate, and look up after getting it clean to a runner streaking home.  

​Then get out of the way. If a runner wants to take advantage to the napping defense, they should. Call time as infrequently as possible, I think. 

[ZebraStripes]

​Then get out of the way. If a runner wants to take advantage to the napping defense, they should. Call time as infrequently as possible, I think. 

​That's been my process of late.  If I have to dig to find the plate I will call time.  I have ignored most requests for time after a slide.  The only thing I was granting time for this weekend on the bases was for an untied spike.  

[BillKen]

Calling "Foul Ball"...just say "Foul".

Showing the count every pitch

Straddling the fair/foul line in A

Giving the count in the field

Heather Gray Pants

[alan2703]

High School level and above

Saying ball four take your base at that level  one would hope the players know that already (PU)

Not getting to field in time to watch teams take I/O I id it as player and do it as an umpire you can pick up a few things

Players not hustling on and off the field

Most everything else was covered

 

[bluejerred]

OK guys, when cleaning the plate, call time or let the players play while cleaning the plate?

Overall, if I'm working one-man, I call time after playing action has stopped just so nothing happens while my back is turned when I clean the plate or hustle back to home plate from the infield.  Easy enough to just say "I had time" if something goofy goes down then trying to sift through a mess because something happened while your back was turned.  

If I have another umpire on the field, then I don't call time to clean the plate or hustle back to the dish.

Pretty much, I try to use the tools and rules I have at my disposal to make things as simple and easy as possible.

[woodiemiller]

How about a partner on the bases who calls "Time" then has to POINT to you (PU) to let you know when the runner on 2B has cleaned off the dirt from his uniform?

[woodiemiller]

​Both. I call time if it's buried after a slide home or if the pitcher is pick off happy. If it needs a quick cleanup in between batters and play has relaxed, I don't call time. I read the game and decide. 

​No. Leave the ball LIVE as often & as much as possible. Bases are 90 feet. If a runner breaks from 3b U will hear people yell. Take a step or 2 back & read the play. Its simple.

[scrounge]

How about a partner on the bases who calls "Time" then has to POINT to you (PU) to let you know when the runner on 2B has cleaned off the dirt from his uniform?

​Well, since the PU is the one who's going to put the ball back in play, why wouldn't the BU inform the PU that the situation that led to time being called has been resolved?

​No. Leave the ball LIVE as often & as much as possible. Bases are 90 feet. If a runner breaks from 3b U will hear people yell. Take a step or 2 back & read the play. Its simple.

​One of my pet peeves is partners who get wrapped around the axle over unimportant trivialities like calling time when cleaning the plate. It takes a nanosecond and doesn't matter at all.

[woodiemiller]

​Well, since the PU is the one who's going to put the ball back in play, why wouldn't the BU inform the PU that the situation that led to time being called has been resolved?

​One of my pet peeves is partners who get wrapped around the axle over unimportant trivialities like calling time when cleaning the plate. It takes a nanosecond and doesn't matter at all.

​Really? You as the PU cant see when the runner on 2B has cleaned himself off & is ready to go? You have a set of eyes like the BU dont you?

Every school & camp Ive ever attended ALWAYS said KEEP THE BALL ALIVE as much as you possibly can. So, if a pickoff is attempted @ 2B while you clean off the plate, why take that off the board just because you want to call "Time" to clean off the plate?

Or how about when after a base hit & the ball comes back into the infield & the SS asks for "Time" to get the ball back to the pitcher?

Or on a pickoff with a tag involved, while the runner is laying down on the ground asks for "Time" to get up? 
Will you call "Time" in those situations as well since it only takes a "nanosecond"? Nano seconds add up.

Edited May 27, 2015 by woodiemiller

[scrounge]

​

​Really? You as the PU cant see when the runner on 2B has cleaned himself off & is ready to go? You have a set of eyes like the BU dont you?

Every school & camp Ive ever attended ALWAYS said KEEP THE BALL ALIVE as much as you possibly can. So, if a pickoff is attempted @ 2B while you clean off the plate, why take that off the board just because you want to call "Time" to clean off the plate?

Or how about when after a base hit & the ball comes back into the infield & the SS asks for "Time" to get the ball back to the pitcher?

Or on a pickoff with a tag involved, while the runner is laying down on the ground asks for "Time" to get up? 
Will you call "Time" in those situations as well since it only takes a "nanosecond"? Nano seconds add up.

​whatever, dude