Need for Speed

[Mad Mike]

Let's say in one week you are doing high school ball. The top velocity you might see in a high school game is 70 to 80 mph. The following week, you begin to work college and/or minor league. The velocity obviously increases. What tips do you have for dealing with increased speed when calling pitches?

Any other pitfalls to watch out for as the speed increases?

[kylehutson]

1) SLOW DOWN - there is a tendency to think that because the action is happening faster, calls need to be faster as well. They don't. In fact, they can be slower.

2) A couple of habits I got into (that I picked up from this site) before I moved up, which really helped... When the pitcher starts his motion, I pick a spot maybe 10-15' in front of the mound and look at it. From there, I only move my eyes. That angle for my head is a pretty good spot where my eyes can look up to see the release of the pitch, and track it all the way into the catcher's glove. Also, I exhale as the pitcher is making his delivery, and leave my breath out throughout the pitch. Getting into these two habits really help with both concentration and timing.

3) The catchers are also much better when the velocities go up. Once you hear the glove pop, take an extra moment to see just where that glove is. There are times when I'm tracking the pitch in, and (e.g.) it looks like it's coming in low, but the catcher sticks it, doesn't move, and when I take that second look, it's at the bottom of the zone, rather than below it.

Personally, because I had good habits before (again, thanks to this site for instilling them in me), I really had no issues moving from HS to college. My first college plate, I was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, and I got about 4 pitches in and my brain said "ah, this is baseball - I know how to call baseball".

[JonnyCat]

Honestly, in my limited experience, there are no real pitfalls.

The highest levels I do are HS varsity and sometimes some very low level college summer ball. For a number of years, I've been fortunate enough to do San Diego State inter-squad games during the winter months. It's D1 baseball and the highest that I will ever see. Granted, they try out a lot of freshman pitchers, but I do see some of the top flight guys getting some work in.

And I know it's just inter-squad games, so the pressure is not there, other that what I put on myself. But in all honesty, I think it is a little easier. The catchers are great, the pitchers hit their spots, and the hitters can hit. It almost calls itself.

The only pitfall I can see is the speed of the game. It's easy to get sucked in and mess up your timing. Just use your good fundamentals and you'll be fine.

I know I don't have that much experience, but hope that helps.

[SH0102]

I have an opinion that others might scoff at, but I actually think calling balls and strikes gets easier as skill and velocity increases.  Now, I am sure there is a point of diminishing return that I have not seen since I have never umpired for a top D1 school or MLB type pitchers, fastest I have seen as an umpire is probably about 92.

But give me 90 over a 60mph ball that has a parabolic path to the plate any day.  And don't forget about the catchers not setting up 4 feet behind the plate where a pitch that crossed at the knees now hits the dirt and makes it really hard to call.

As pitchers and especially catchers skill level improves, I have found myself becoming an even better umpire.  I was doing a D2 NCAA conference game between two pretty good teams and I really locked in, I was doing mental exercises pre-game to get focused, ate a good nutritious snack, got a good nights sleep, clothes and shoes were nice and clean and pressed so I felt good.  It was a step up from my usual D3 games and I was preparing myself to do well, and I called my best game of the season.  I was doing a "true" strike zone, unlike perhaps a D3 game between two sub .500 teams where you might go chalk to chalk lest you have 25 walks in a game....and I was told I had a great strike zone after that D2 game, and since I have found myself struggling to be consistent when "manufacturing" a strike zone...meaning KNOWING it is a ball width off the plate but knowing I need to call it b/c it is a JUCO game, or a 16u weekend tourney game.

Kyle really nailed it though...timing and tracking.  It is human tendency to speed up when the game speeds up, or the crowd noise gets louder.  Stay calm, focus on your responsibilities, track the pitch to the mitt, replay it in your mind, make a decision, call it.

And don't forget to have fun, because baseball is fun, and umpiring isn't worth it if you don't enjoy it.

[kylehutson]

10 minutes ago, SH0102 said:

Now, I am sure there is a point of diminishing return that I have not seen since I have never umpired for a top D1 school or MLB type pitchers, fastest I have seen as an umpire is probably about 92.

I had a JuCo player this year whose first pitch was in the catcher's glove nearly before the batter started his swing. After the inning, I asked the catcher how fast he is. "Usually tops out about 96, but he has hit 98 a time or two." It was fun to watch, and believe it or not, it was just as easy to call as the others.

15 minutes ago, SH0102 said:

But give me 90 over a 60mph ball that has a parabolic path to the plate any day.

Amen! In my area, all high school games are doubleheaders. I prefer to work the second one after working college games, just to see how much I can expand my zone (and the usual answer is "a lot more than I thought I would"). Honestly, the high-school-only guys probably have a better and more consistent strike zone than I do for that level.

17 minutes ago, SH0102 said:

And don't forget to have fun, because baseball is fun, and umpiring isn't worth it if you don't enjoy it.

Absolutely!

[SH0102]

1 hour ago, kylehutson said:

I had a JuCo player this year whose first pitch was in the catcher's glove nearly before the batter started his swing. After the inning, I asked the catcher how fast he is. "Usually tops out about 96, but he has hit 98 a time or two." It was fun to watch, and believe it or not, it was just as easy to call as the others.

Amen! In my area, all high school games are doubleheaders. I prefer to work the second one after working college games, just to see how much I can expand my zone (and the usual answer is "a lot more than I thought I would"). Honestly, the high-school-only guys probably have a better and more consistent strike zone than I do for that level.

Absolutely!

Some people knock JUCO games, in any sport, but there are a lot of really really good athletes in JUCO that are there because they didn’t have good grades in HS, or can’t afford a big time school that is offering them a fractional scholarship (I used to teach someone that was best LAX player in state, and they got $2500 to go to Duke...so they still have to pay $50000 but get to play for a top team)

My friend in HS threw 95 and played a season of JUCO bc of grades before being drafted in 10th round and making it to AAA

Depth isn’t the same in JUCO but you definitely still can see some studs along the way 

[beerguy55]

23 hours ago, kylehutson said:

I had a JuCo player this year whose first pitch was in the catcher's glove nearly before the batter started his swing. After the inning, I asked the catcher how fast he is. "Usually tops out about 96, but he has hit 98 a time or two." It was fun to watch, and believe it or not, it was just as easy to call as the others

At roughly 95 the ball seems to "hop" in space, and you're left to fill the gaps - you pick it up out of the hand, and then it's in the mitt (or your ribs).   Hitters are effectively anticipating where the pitch is going as opposed to literally watching the ball to their bat...the pitch is there in about .4 seconds ...and you take about .1 second just to process what you're seeing....if you only saw what you saw at 90-95 the ball would be about 15 feet further than what you see....without our predictive mechanism no hitter would ever hit a ball except by accident.   Be happy you're not trying to hit the damned thing, but I can't see your job in assessing where the pitch crossed the plate being much easier.

If it is easy, or just as easy, it's because you're not thinking.   You can't.  You shouldn't.   

And don't blink.

[kylehutson]

2 minutes ago, beerguy55 said:

At roughly 95 the ball seems to "hop" in space, and you're left to fill the gaps - you pick it up out of the hand, and then it's in the mitt (or your ribs).   Hitters are effectively anticipating where the pitch is going as opposed to literally watching the ball to their bat...the pitch is there in about .4 seconds ...and you take about .1 second just to process what you're seeing....if you only saw what you saw at 90-95 the ball would be about 15 feet further than what you see....without our predictive mechanism no hitter would ever hit a ball except by accident.   Be happy you're not trying to hit the damned thing, but I can't see your job in assessing where the pitch crossed the plate being much easier.

If it is easy, or just as easy, it's because you're not thinking.   You can't.  You shouldn't.   

And don't blink.

Oh, I could definitely tell by the third batter that they were starting their swings well before they knew where the ball would be crossing the plate. My job was *much* easier than theirs, and I'm quite grateful that I had a good catcher in front of me. And one of the batters predicted right and it went over the center field fence. Came in hard, went out hard.

[MadMax]

On 5/17/2021 at 3:41 PM, Mad Mike said:

What tips do you have for dealing with increased speed when calling pitches?

Make a focused, deliberate effort to position yourself, pre-pitch, to see the entirety of the pitch. This means overcoming a potential block-out by the batter or catcher on seeing either the release or the catch. With teenaged players, I can “get away” with an occasional squeeze wherein the pitcher’s release point is blocked by the batter’s hands, for example. Once I’ve got a guy hurling at something in the 80s and 90s, I cannot let getting blocked out happen without doing something – in my own positioning – to overcome it. 

As the other guys have said, the higher the velocity, the safer I actually feel because typically, the catcher’s skill and size also increases. I have faced 101 MPH. I and my fellow Vultures are routinely brought in for pitching sessions, intrasquad, and simulated games where the pitchers are being ramped up from 92-93 MPH to their expected top-out of 97-99 MPH. One of the most useful bits of preparation is to actually not know or dwell on the speed itself. It’s actually more crucial to see the entirety of the pitch path, because today’s professional pitcher is being coached, trained and shaped to throw a variety of effective pitches from an arm slot and release point that remains as consistent as possible. 

The worst thing I want to hear in a college game or scrimmage is, “oh yeah Max, this guy (F1) is experimenting with a (new-to-him) pitch / grip”. Great! Nobody knows where this next one’s gonna go! 

The only time I have ever been truly nervous as a PU was at a structured combine for teenagers. All the enticing elements were there – Major League training fields, 5-point camera layout, Trackman system, scouts and recruiters on the platform behind each backstop, program coordinators and coaches behind a screen a scant 10 feet behind the PU. The works! The only thing lacking – glaringly so – was coordination between the F2s and F1s. I would repeatedly hear from the F2, “Well, I don’t know what this next one’s gonna be”, or, “this is my first time ever seeing him”. And, because my assigner is a sadist, I was ascribed to the 1 field of the quartet of fields we were using that has the home plate looking directly into the setting sun in a cloudless sky! 

I seriously considered getting a welding mask... and a new assigner.

Of course these kids wanted to try and show off, either throwing as hard as they could, or something with ridiculous movement on it to elicit as many oohs and aahs as they could; however, most became 57-58 ft spike jobs that had a wonderful tendency to find forearms, thighs, CPs and masks.