Mike Trout Advocates for MiLB Umpires

[Lindsay]

AL MVP Mike Trout is advocating for Minor League Umpires at Spring Training by trying to get them more big league experience during the baseball pre-season period. Mike Trout wants more March MiLB umpires.The Umpire's Friend? Trout has never been ejected from a Major League game, though...

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[stkjock]

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. ..

[dumbdumb]

And they already have a very good system for promotions. Show me how good you are in MiLB and earn a trip to AFL and ST. They are heavily scouted by the MLB supervisors to start with at the AAA level. If they are considered the greatest thing since slice bread, then they move them into AFL and then ST, although there is never any guarantee of a job. They are already seeing sizable crowds at many of the MiLB parks and see pitchers and other players that are moving up and down from MLB all season long due to rehab assignments.

Remember, with only a about a half (65 games) AAA season under their belts in 2013, Gabe Morales and Pat Hoberg opened up in MLB at the beginning of the next season, 2014, with a 123 game schedule. Looks like they had pretty much been seen at the lower levels by MLB, or MLB had heard great comments on their work, and been tagged as superstars, and greatest thing since sliced bread, before they ever sat foot on a AAA field no less. And that was the quickest since Joe West was called up to AAA on August 18, 1976, for only 12 games and then worked September 1976 games in MLB as a, call up/fill in, at the ripe old age of 23 after only 3 full years, basically 1 1/2 A ball and 1 1/2 AA ball in MiLB.

There are several MiLBU that are not on the ST list that show up in the Spring Training box scores that are getting that exposure mentioned.

Now, talking about exposure and a little diversion here. Are the D1 Super Conferences or whatever highfalutin names given to those type conferences that use 4 umpires, giving their up and coming non-conference umpires that 3rd base slot in the D1 Conference games on weekends, to give them exposure while they are working on their PU skills in non-con games, or are they using only the Conference guys??? A nice way to get some Conference exposure without having to work the plate. Yet, you are being seen while working on your PU skills that just barely aren't quite perfect yet, for future promotion.

But, if Trout thinks it would be great to let all umpires at all levels in the system work on the field for a ST game, and let the veterans help if needed, no problems with that either. But, they might want the guys who have a little better command of the Zone Evaluator zone, working the plate on those games, since everyone is trying to sharpen their eyes towards that zone before opening day. Maybe AA with a season under their belts and above can work some PU games, while below AA only the bases. Hey, exposure is exposure, working either professional players or amateur players.

 

Seen yesterday in ST:  Clay Park, Ryan Clark, Jason Visconti, Brian Peterson (Peterson just promoted from AA to AAA for the 2017 season).