Umpire Placement Course

[mac266]

It's an 8-day course.  I guess graduates of one of the two pro schools go there for final selection, but it's open to the rest of us schmucks, too.  According to the web site, they use it to hire folks into college summer leagues like the American Association and others.  I spoke with a mentor about it, and he says those college summer leagues are great, but not for a family guy like me -- 90 days away from my regular (and well paying, especially compared to umpiring!) job and family.

But an 8-day course is much more palatable than a 30-day course, just from a pocket book and burning vacation time perspective.  This is especially true because I could never afford to be an MiLB umpire.  Sure, if they stuck me in the MLB on day 1 and paid me the MLB rate, it would be great.  But it doesn't work like that.  Do you suppose it would open up other opportunities?  We have a Pecos league team locally and the umpires are all local.  I'd love to get into that.

[Mister B]

14 minutes ago, mac266 said:

We have a Pecos league team locally and the umpires are all local.  I'd love to get into that.

Find out the association and the assigner. Contact them and ask what you need to get in. It might take a couple tries to get thru. 

[umpstu]

7 hours ago, mac266 said:

It's an 8-day course.  I guess graduates of one of the two pro schools go there for final selection, but it's open to the rest of us schmucks, too.  According to the web site, they use it to hire folks into college summer leagues like the American Association and others.  I spoke with a mentor about it, and he says those college summer leagues are great, but not for a family guy like me -- 90 days away from my regular (and well paying, especially compared to umpiring!) job and family.

But an 8-day course is much more palatable than a 30-day course, just from a pocket book and burning vacation time perspective.  This is especially true because I could never afford to be an MiLB umpire.  Sure, if they stuck me in the MLB on day 1 and paid me the MLB rate, it would be great.  But it doesn't work like that.  Do you suppose it would open up other opportunities?  We have a Pecos league team locally and the umpires are all local.  I'd love to get into that.

Contact the Pecos League directly.  They will have a list of the assigners they use.

[MadMax]

On 10/26/2021 at 11:10 AM, mac266 said:

but it's open to the rest of us schmucks, too.

And this schmuck right here has parlayed his UPC attendance into annual crew chief assignments for one of the leagues, NAIA 3-man crew assignments, and 3- and 4- man resources for special event and post-season games for High School. 

UPC is an outstanding environment. It occupies that middle-ground between school-from-scratch, an association camp, and those skill-specific clinics and college “tryouts”. Everyone’s paths (plural) to “bigger and better” baseball are different from one person to the next – there is no one set, rigidly defined route. 

 

 

 

I still haven’t gone to school.

Edited March 2, 2022 by MadMax
Updated School Status

[MadMax]

On 10/26/2021 at 9:17 PM, MadMax said:

I still haven’t gone to school.

... But now I have, as of 2022. That's a story for another night and another campfire. 

UPC has become an integral part of several "recently minted" Pro umpires. Whichever league one gets placed in, the structure and day-to-day routines that are followed contribute mightily to how composed a Pro umpire candidate behaves in a (return to) School environment. If you're at a point in your life where you don't have enough time or capital to invest in the month-long enrollment in Umpire School, then UPC might just be that "bridge" for you. You don't necessarily have to take a league job offer, but you might surprise yourself at how much you'll progress in your umpire career if you do. I can honestly say that, when I started in UPC 2019 as one of the "first batch" of umpire-candidates, I didn't foresee myself about to be offered, accept, and perform the role I'm about to embark on this summer. This, and the completion of HWUS, has me best prepared to attempt the next significant step in my umpire career. 

With the current state of affairs in Professional baseball, there's going to be added weight and attention paid to amateur (ie. college), semi-pro, and independent pro baseball in the coming years.