Is the umpire supposed to call time out instantly?

[Side Retired]

I'll try to be less uppity this time. Cal Ripken U14. Runner on second. 2 out. Ball gets away from catcher but not far. Runner steals third. Not so close play, runner is safe. Pretty obvious runner gets there first, but overslides and is hanging on third with one hand. Third baseman is holding tag on the runner. Runner raises other hand to call time. There's a pause in there somewhere apparently because neither umpire says anything. Probably a two or three count passes and the runner let's go of the bag to stand up. Base umpire calls him out. Obviously the coach is mad because the kid was asking for timeout and not given.

Not to start a fight here, but why wasn't the runner given timeout? He clearly requested it, the umps had time to give it, but they both waited a couple of beats then the runner lets go of the bag and he's out. I don't get it. When does timeout mean timeout?

[Biscuit]

On 6/22/2025 at 11:15 AM, Side Retired said:

Do'nt know if its ever going to make total sense. It seems more like every game is a whole different ball of wax. What was called in a that game isn't necessarily gonna be called in this one. It's like some same plays get different calls and there's a way to justify calls either way.

It's also 14U. You almost never are going to have highly trained umpires at the 14U level... And 14U also doesn't have highly trained players. The higher level of baseball you participate in, the better the umpires will be, and the more likely it is that something will be called consistently. A lot of damage is done because the expectations put on umpires are higher than can be reasonably expected for the level of ball they're working. You don't have MLB umpires, so holding them to the same standard is ridiculous... And again, you also don't have MLB players.