Spring Training for the Men in Blue

[stkjock]

Quote

Mike Trout is widely regarded as baseball’s best player, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a player who is more universally liked than Trout. He seems to have a running banter with almost everyone when he plays, from opposing catchers to infielders to umpires.

It was during one of those chats with a veteran umpire earlier this spring that Trout offered a thought: As the experienced umpires work their way back into game shape in spring training, just as the players do, why not have them work five or six innings and turn over the last innings to umpires who would normally work minor league games on back fields?

The idea is simple, but it has a lot of helpful layers, beyond allowing an older plate umpire a little more time to work into condition to see 350 or so pitches in a given game. It is extraordinarily difficult for young umpires to advance in the industry because there is little annual turnover among umpires in the big leagues. For a young umpire slated for Class A or AA to get a few innings in a major league exhibition -- with the packed ballpark and major league players -- would be something of a reward, as it is for the minor league players.

One evaluator noted that this would also give baseball officials another chance to see the young umpires at work, under conditions closer to those they experience in the higher levels.

When Trout’s idea was conveyed to baseball officials over the past week, they loved it. "It makes a lot of sense for a lot of different reasons," one official said.

Added another: "That’s Trout: He’s always paying attention to stuff beyond what he’s doing."

Issue that pops into my mind, is that by the time these younger guys would be in the game, many of the MLB players would be out.

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