Second guessing...

[scrounge]

6 hours ago, Richvee said:

Correct. See the ball leave the fielder's hand. Just don't stick with the throw trying to read it. let F3 read it and follow his lead. 

I had started to do a pretty similar thing for steals at 2B (once assured the ball won't hit you, snap to watch the fielder and let him take you to the play), but after reading this, tried it at 1B from A. ** LOVE IT **. Felt that I got on the picture quicker, which wasn't too big of a deal on the average, on target throw but I thought helped timing. But the big benefit, as expected, was on an off-target throw that drew F3 off the base and led to a swipe tag. Admittedly, it wasn't the most bang-bang swipe tag but it was pretty close. Before, following the ball and reading it in flight, I'd find myself snapping too quickly on many of these. This time, I was already on the fielder, so seeing him start to come off the bag immediately told me "possible swipe tag" and really slowed down that part. Heartily recommend.

[kstrunk]

18 hours ago, grayhawk said:

@stl_ump, you have MANY more opportunities to practice proper use of eyes than you might realize.  I posted this on the Fed Facebook group last week, and think it might help you as well.  I'm not announcing anything, but you might look for it in the July issue of Referee magazine too. 

To give yourself the best chance of getting a call correct, the most important factors are (1) Get the best angle possible, (2) Be set for the critical action, and (3) Proper timing. Proper timing is one of the most difficult things for umpires to master, and even the best among us is bound to make a call too quick from time to time. So how do we practice proper timing so that when we get a whacker that may decide the outcome of the game, we are calm, cool and collected?

You may not realize it, but you have literally thousands of opportunities every season to practice "proper use of eyes" which is THE key component of good timing. As the base umpire standing in short right field between innings, do you watch the infielders warm-up throws as if you were calling a play each and every time? If you are not, then you are foregoing the opportunity to build the muscle memory necessary to have proper timing. From your position, watch the infielder throw the ball to F3. Judge the throw out of his hand (is it a true throw, or off line?), snap your head to the 1B bag and listen for the pop of the mitt. Then, and this is the critical part, allow your head and eyes (the bill of your cap should physically move up) to travel up to F3's mitt to judge secure possession and voluntary release. Then, and only then, should you mentally make your call. This is proper use of eyes and if you do this on every call, whether the runner is out by ten feet, or on a real banger, then it's almost impossible to make your call too fast.

This is also an opportunity to practice read steps. When you snap your head and eyes to the bag, read F3 and how he is striding to make the catch. Is he reaching towards the plate? Towards the RF line? Straight at you? Use these throws to practice reading F3 and making a mental read step in the proper direction to get the best angle. This is a more advanced drill and I recommend that you only move on to read steps after you have built your muscle memory on your head and eyes traveling to the mitt to where it's automatic in live game action.

Doing this drill between innings is an excellent opportunity to perfect our timing. Use this time wisely and you'll vastly improve the likelihood of having great timing on even the closest of plays.

Thanks @grayhawk. I've extended this practice to include F2's warmup throw down to 2B, as it also helps me judge a throw in the 1st half of the flight of the ball, as well as using my eyes to ensure firm/secure possession and voluntary release of infielders. As the last warm up pitch is being thrown, I'll walk in toward 2B and when the catcher is about to throw, I'll get set and call it in my head. This has helped me immensely. 

[Thomas Mullaney]

On 3/28/2017 at 9:55 PM, ElkOil said:

When I doubt myself it's because I thought I could have had a better angle, or picked up on some other cues if I couldn't see the play due to being straight-lined or something. Or maybe I was too close. Or whatever. The bottom line is this: You can only do the best job you can do, and at the end of it, only your judgement matters. Could your judgement be better in some cases? Well, sure. Everyone's can. But for me, what made me more confident is taking ownership of all my calls and realizing that I can only call what I can see and piece together based on my position on the field.

Last week, I was BU in B. R1 stealing 2B. The throw was high and to the 1B side of 2B. Runner slides as F4 jumps to catch the ball. As the runner was sliding by F4, F4 reached down and tagged him on the helmet. Or so I thought. I bang the out. Everyone trots off the field and the 1BC mutters that I missed the call. I absolutely may have missed it. 1BC had a much better angle than I did and may very well have seen daylight between the glove and helmet. But I didn't have his perspective. I could only make the call based on what I had where I was, and I had to live with it.

And I was good with that.

I had this exact scenario, but with a swipe tag up the line, between innings the coach came over and talked to me and said that his HC asked if there was a tag, he said no, HC asked why he didn't argue, 1BC said that there was no reasonable way he could expect me in B to see the space between the runner and the tag and arguing only would've made things worse.

[stl_ump]

11 hours ago, Thomas Mullaney said:

I had this exact scenario, but with a swipe tag up the line, between innings the coach came over and talked to me and said that his HC asked if there was a tag, he said no, HC asked why he didn't argue, 1BC said that there was no reasonable way he could expect me in B to see the space between the runner and the tag and arguing only would've made things worse.

Curious as to why you would call an out on a swipe tag if you didn't see the tag?  Any chance to get with your partner to see what he might have seen?

[maven]

In my experience, most umpires think that their timing for calls at 1B is really good. Empirical evidence demonstrates that it isn't.

I video them. After, I ask: how long, in seconds, between the play and your call? Most will say 1-2 seconds. A stopwatch reveals that nearly all are less than 1 second, most less than 0.5 seconds.

I'm not suggesting that there's a proper time interval. I'm suggesting that it FEELS like a long time when we learn to use proper timing. Proper use of the eyes, for an umpire with bad timing, FEELS like 20 minutes.

Focusing on using your eyes correctly, as grayhawk has explained, is the proper approach. Timing will take care of itself, and you'll also give your brain time to process all the evidence.

That last bit is important: since we're using both visual and auditory evidence, we have to coordinate two distinct parts of the sensory cortex, through the pre-frontal cortex (for decision making). The brain sends signals fast, but with more information across different parts of the brain, it takes correspondingly longer. Failing to give your brain time to coordinate its evidence is the cause of so much second-guessing.