Coach pitch umpire positioning

[Guest Brandon]

Is there a correct positioning for an umpire doing coach pitch? If not, where do you guys stand?

[Aging_Arbiter]

at home, on my sofa.

 

Locally, our coach pitch is instructional.  We do not officiate this level.

[noumpere]

While I agree with aging-arbiter, if you are working this level, and there's no need to call balls and strikes, then you are just like the BU in two person,.  Position yourself accordingly, but move during the play as you would when working 1-man.

 

The one exception might be whenever there is an R3 and a chance for a play at the plate.  You wouldn't want to be behind the plate anywhere since you don't have gear -- so I guess I'd stand closer to the pitcher than a normal BU and adjust.

[rzanew]

We teach umpires to be positioned to the side of the plate away from the batter (near to the fence). This position allows for the judgement of swing/no-swing.  Also, they are in front of the players and coach/pitcher for managing the game and communicating the count.  

When the ball is put into play, they move into the infield, near the "mound" to view the plays and make calls.  "Time" is called every time action stops.

[beerguy55]

I've also seen the hybrid where the player pitches until ball four - at that point it goes to coach pitch and all pitches are strikes, so ump just moves over to side, like @rzanew stated.

[Guest Brandon]

2 hours ago, noumpere said:

While I agree with aging-arbiter, if you are working this level, and there's no need to call balls and strikes, then you are just like the BU in two person,.  Position yourself accordingly, but move during the play as you would when working 1-man.

 

The one exception might be whenever there is an R3 and a chance for a play at the plate.  You wouldn't want to be behind the plate anywhere since you don't have gear -- so I guess I'd stand closer to the pitcher than a normal BU and adjust.

That's what I was doing but it resulted in me missing a fair/foul call down the third base line.

[kylehutson]

I stand in what we would probably consider to be a "deep deep slot" about 5' behind the batter's back shoulder. I'm not saying a foul ball couldn't come that way, but in the last 10-ish years I've yet to see one go there. It also keeps you close enough you can pop out to judge fair/foul and see anything else I would need to as a PU.

[jjb]

You've got to stand facing the batter, not behind him; most of these kids are letting the bat fly after they hit the ball, and it usually ends up behind him. 6-8' usually will suffice far enough away to be safe (no equipment), and close enough for the fair/foul call.

[stevis]

5 hours ago, rzanew said:

.  "Time" is called every time action stops.

So that's where they're learning it.

4 hours ago, beerguy55 said:

I've also seen the hybrid where the player pitches until ball four - at that point it goes to coach pitch and all pitches are strikes, so ump just moves over to side, like @rzanew stated.

That's what our Little League does at one level; we only provide umpires for their end of season "fun" tournament, at which point I hustle league gear out to those fields and have them work standard one (or occaisonally two) person mechanics.

[MadMax]

15 hours ago, rzanew said:

We teach umpires to be positioned to the side of the plate away from the batter (near to the fence). This position allows for the judgement of swing/no-swing.  Also, they are in front of the players and coach/pitcher for managing the game and communicating the count.  

When the ball is put into play, they move into the infield, near the "mound" to view the plays and make calls.  "Time" is called every time action stops.

This is alot like bar league, slow pitch softball! 

I was thinking the exact same thing, @stevis... So that's where they're learning it.

11 hours ago, jjb said:

You've got to stand facing the batter, not behind him; most of these kids are letting the bat fly after they hit the ball, and it usually ends up behind him. 6-8' usually will suffice far enough away to be safe (no equipment), and close enough for the fair/foul call.

This is also where they're learning it! Holy crap! And this must be where umpires learn to call an Out for a flung bat!

[jjb]

Max, who's learning what? These players are 6, 7 and 8 years old.  I've done everything but duct-tape the bat to their hands. I'm just trying to keep my rookie Umpires alive out there. 

And we don't generally call batters out for throwing the bat (although we've got a League rule that says we could if we had to). 

Coach Pitch Leagues are not for real. They're not supposed to be. They're just places for little kids to have fun running counter-clockwise, and for rookie umpires (13-years old) to learn basic Umpiring skills and get hooked on Umpiring.