My Cage Work

[Thunderheads]

1 minute ago, JSam21 said:

Gentlemen I would like to thank you for all of the feedback.

Things to work on...

1) Tracking the ball

2) Move out in slot further

3) Slow Down

Nope ...you have 5 things to work on ....

1) Slow down

2) slow down more

3) slow down even more

4) watch the slot

5) track the ball

 

[MidAmUmp]

7 hours ago, Thunderheads said:

First ........ I agree with everything that's been said.

Second .... the red highlighted points from @alex7 are key!  The green is SO true ....I realized this a few years ago ......    Once you train your eyes to see it ALL the way in ....your zone and the ball look HUGE, ...you WILL recognize the difference!!     Nice job!

One thing I see a lot when I'm doing clinics is guys holding their breath as the pitch is coming in. You have to learn to exhale as the pitcher delivers the ball. Holding your breath causes everything (including your eyes) to tense up...exhaling relaxes everything (including your eyes) and will help immensely with tracking the ball into the glove.

[Umpire in Chief]

I've got a lot to say about this...

First and foremost thanks @JSam21 for putting your self out there So Kudo's to you.

Next, You guys as a whole are awesome with your feedback and not trolling or flaming. This is what I started this place for so Kudos to you too.

 

57 minutes ago, MidAmUmp said:

One thing I see a lot when I'm doing clinics is guys holding their breath as the pitch is coming in. You have to learn to exhale as the pitcher delivers the ball. Holding your breath causes everything (including your eyes) to tense up...exhaling relaxes everything (including your eyes) and will help immensely with tracking the ball into the glove.

Here is the BRASS- F method the first time I heard of it. I will swear to you it works. 

On 3/2/2008 at 5:25 PM, blue bomber said:

This may sound a little weird, but I've applied some of the principles of rifle shooting to plate umpiring...

Breathe- Pay attention to your breathing. You don't want to be tense.

Relax- When he's winding up you want to be properly relaxed w/ your position locked in.

Aim- You're locked into your position. Your eyes should be naturally lined up at the top of the zone instead of forced to be there. Your stance should give you a "natural point of aim" rather than having to force it.

Stop- Just before the ball leaves the pitchers hand you stop breathing at the BOTTOM of your exhale. This is esssential to keep you from blinking. If you stop at the top of your breath or part way in between, then you're tenser than you need to be and much more apt to blink.

Shoot- Well, not really "shoot." But this is where the pitcher pulls the trigger, and you watch the ball come down range. If the ball is hit or if the 2 seam fastball explodes in your face and you blink or flinch hard, then you didn't relax enough.

Follow Through- This is the timing that you guys all talk about. Watch the ball into the mitt, and take a breath in and make your call.

BRASS-F is the acronym.

I'm still fine tuning the analogy and my own timing.

 

Here's an article I wrote some time back about timing and got really positive response from..

 

[BT_Blue]

On Tue Feb 14 2017 at 2:35 PM, JSam21 said:

Well here is my cage work from our spring clinic. Tear me apart boys and girls. Always looking to get better.

 

 

If you are looking to get "torn apart" post it on a Facebook forum and let the trolls run wild 

On Tue Feb 14 2017 at 8:11 PM, Richvee said:

I agree the K3 call was a bit fast, but I  like the call. I've been searching in vain for a K3 call I like.

Same here. I've basically run the gamete of signals and such for strike three mechanics. This year I am giving the John Tumpane "cross hammer" a try. I putzed with it a bit at then end of my (cut short) season last year and liked it.

I'm sure I'll get beat up for it this weekend at a local clinic and probably the traveling Wendelstedt clinic next weekend. But I like the look and it keeps me facing the right direction.

[MadMax]

After grabbing some popcorn and some tea, with a supposed "storm of the decade" on its way from Southern California, I queued up and watched all the videos from that MUA clinic, @JSam21. So I watched all your colleagues, then I watched all the rest from that source. This is not an excuse, and in no way am I criticizing MUA for the intent and efforts of hosting cage / pitching lane experience – I get a sense of haste that may be detrimental.

For one thing, you are told to call a strike on everything. This isn't doing your brain any favors. We want to create a "natural" pathway or sequence from our eyes, to our brain's receptors, to our brain's decision / logic center, to our brain's motor-commanding node, down our spine to our legs, our torso, then our right arm and mouth so as to vocalize "Strike!"... or "Hike!" or "Heeyah!" or "Streeooooke!" or whatever else you use. I listed all those steps because in these steps is where you address and control the ever-crucial Timing.

With everything assumed to be a strike, we're affecting (essentially removing) three of the steps. The result is abbreviated, truncated timing.

My own personal "challenge" behind the plate is calling balls "too fast". Conversely, I've had no shortage of umpires, up and down the ranks from MLB to novice, all say I have ideal, model timing on calling strikes. Why's that? Because I built into my "process path" a series of delays. Because I stay down when calling balls, the process path is different... it's more direct from Decision / Logic center to my voice box, thus, the timing is shorter.

The guy conducting the pitching is doing you no favors, either. No, not the trainer who is in close proximity to you commenting; the guy who's actually "pitching". The "On the Rubber... Ready" again affects that sequence we're each working on "perfecting". These are audible cues, whereas we predominantly work with visual cues. Thus, this upsets the entire sequence.

Look at it this way... if you've got a pitcher working far too fast, and is stepping on, going into the windup, and delivering a pitch without you, the catcher and/or the batter really being ready, you'll likely try to stop him, right? Caution him. Tell him to wait until his catcher is ready, or your hand signal. Same thing here... this MUA guy is too fixated on getting the umpires through their 5-6 pitches with urgency, and everything is sped up. As a reaction, each of the umpires are either too fast in their timing or unsettled to the point of being discombobulated (check the guy who gets confused on which way to point).

One thing I gotta hand to you, Justin, is you project very well. Effective and efficient. 

[BT_Blue]

Just watched the video.

Only thing I can come up with (since I had to watch the video with the sound down) is that it looks awkward you shuffling back and forth into your ready position. 

[johnnyg08]

On 2/17/2017 at 7:03 AM, JSam21 said:

Gentlemen I would like to thank you for all of the feedback.

Things to work on...

1) Tracking the ball

2) Move out in slot further

3) Slow Down

3) Slow down...this will come when with proper use of your eyes.  It really is that simple.  Taking longer just to take longer is something called false timing.  It looks and feels good for a while, but you'll still miss several pitches that are easy to get w/ proper use of your eyes.