Minor League Umps Used in MLB Spring Training?

[Mad Mike]

Interesting article on Mike Trout having an idea to improve umpiring. In a nutshell, Trout suggests minor league umps work the final few innings of spring training games to get in reps and be seen.  I don't think the MLB Umpire Union would take too kindly to this, or would they?

 

http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post/_/id/16376/mike-trout-proposes-umpire-change

[umpstu]

Not a bad idea.

 

[Umpire_ar]

I think this is an excellent idea. As the article states, it's hard to move up because of the limited positions and retirements. That being said, why wouldn't you want the best officials on the field. Complacency is an umpires worst enemy. If they had to worry about their jobs each season, then I think as good as they are they would strive to be even better. It would give the younger guys a chance to get MLB experience and show the evaluators what they got. Just a humble HS Umpires opinion.


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[ElkOil]

36 minutes ago, Umpire_ar said:

I think this is an excellent idea. As the article states, it's hard to move up because of the limited positions and retirements. That being said, why wouldn't you want the best officials on the field. Complacency is an umpires worst enemy. If they had to worry about their jobs each season, then I think as good as they are they would strive to be even better. It would give the younger guys a chance to get MLB experience and show the evaluators what they got. Just a humble HS Umpires opinion.


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The umpires' union is pretty strong, so this isn't an issue. Now if an MLB ump could be sent back down to the minors if he's under-performing...