Officially starting my high school umpire journey tonight

[BigBlue4u]

On 3/21/2026 at 2:07 PM, The Man in Blue said:

Ducking is considered a violation, as the runner is still going into the bag on their feet.

Am I missing something?  Wouldn't it be better to say, "Ducking is considered a violation if it interferes with the play?

[The Man in Blue]

10 hours ago, 834k3r said:

Since we're off the rails here, I will say my interest in Star Wars began waning when Loopy D decided to eliminate and ignore the dozens of books, declaring them non-canon.

 I read many of the books, but was never a hardcore fan of most of them.  Wholesale discounting of a whole universe of material didn't set well with me though.

It's like writing a rulebook and then issuing case plays that do the exact opposite of the rule . . . 

[The Man in Blue]

4 hours ago, BigBlue4u said:

Am I missing something?  Wouldn't it be better to say, "Ducking is considered a violation if it interferes with the play?

 

I do not disagree with you, but the current application of the rule and interpretation is "SLIDE or VEER".  Ducking is neither, and is remaining on your feet as you go in.  I have asked this in several different clinics/forums and the response has always been this.

[BLWizzRanger]

9 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

 

I do not disagree with you, but the current application of the rule and interpretation is "SLIDE or VEER".  Ducking is neither, and is remaining on your feet as you go in.  I have asked this in several different clinics/forums and the response has always been this.

FPSR is a safety play to protect the defense.  Ducking does not protect the safety of the fielder.   It only protects the runner from, hopefully, a mouthful of baseball.

Edited to add:  And the first movement of lowing the shoulder to truck a fielder is..... wait for it.... ducking.

[Thatsnotyou]

I’ve had a guy hit his knees and cover his ducking head probably 30 feet from the bag - that’s not a veer or a slide - but unless the throwing lane was supposed to be two feet off the ground, there’s nothing there. Spirit of rule vs letter of law. 
 

A slight duck near the bag? Yeah, grab it. 

[orangebird]

Guys you're interrupting the Star Wars discussion smh 😂

[BLWizzRanger]

1 hour ago, orangebird said:

Guys you're interrupting the Star Wars discussion smh 😂

Please take the discussion to the Galatic-Empire.com web site.

[The Man in Blue]

14 hours ago, Thatsnotyou said:

I’ve had a guy hit his knees and cover his ducking head probably 30 feet from the bag - that’s not a veer or a slide - but unless the throwing lane was supposed to be two feet off the ground, there’s nothing there. Spirit of rule vs letter of law. 
 

A slight duck near the bag? Yeah, grab it. 

 

Sounds like a bad attempt at a slide to me.  😋

He's not on his feet, which is what the letter of the law folks point at.

[The Man in Blue]

12 hours ago, BLWizzRanger said:

Please take the discussion to the Galatic-Empire.com web site.

 

This IS Umpire-EMPIRE!!!!!! 

The premiere website for Star Wars and baseball enthusiasts!  

OK, headed over to catch up on the MiLB and MeLB threads (Mos Eisley League Baseball).

[orangebird]

So as best I can tell I'm done with the HS season. The public school regular season ended on Monday and it's Friday and I haven't randomly been assigned a Catholic school, so I think I can call it now.

Let's start with the basic numbers: worked nine games, with one cancellation they forgot to tell us about (half pay, woo!) and one rainout they told us about early enough where we weren't at the field yet, so 11 times I had something show up in Arbiter. I set up my blocks to be open for three games per week and basically always got two so that was definitely noticeable to me. My HS org is pretty big where I don't think they're lacking for bodies and I wasn't trying to bother my assigner, but definitely felt like I could've gotten a few more games in.

My partners were always more experienced, as you'd hope for someone new to HS, and I had two partners that were also working some level of college ball, so that was neat. I also randomly managed to have one partner three times, which felt a little surprising for an org this big.

As for the actual games, they were largely uneventful. Four of the nine felt particularly competitive and only one game felt like it could go either way entering the seventh. I managed to work four mercy rules and another game that ended 12-4 or something else that felt over by the third inning but couldn't quite get its way to the 10 after 5 threshold. 

The biggest issue that came up was "did that batted ball touch the batter in the box?", which was a point of discussion in a pair of games. I had plate and the fielding team coach came because he thought a single should've been a foul ball, but I didn't see it and my partner didn't see it so the fielding team coach definitely let out an annoyed "what are we doing people?" or something like that but when he came to me with a lineup change like 20 minutes later he seemingly got over it. Then I had a pretty obvious foul ball off the foot working base I saw, plate ump let it play out, we conferenced and overturned it in about five seconds lol. When I pregamed with one of the college guys he told me that if it looks obvious to you as the base ump, give the plate ump a second, and if it hasn't been called, then you can call it foul, which I found really helpful and will definitely be something I try to use going forward.

I also had a runners lane correct no call, which felt nice to get right, actually managed to check off the classic "no white/grey long sleeves for the pitcher" during the windiest game I worked and I finally got to actually call an infield fly multiple times because I swear I never had one last year.

I will say for all the emphasis the NFHS test places on the admin, non-gameplay rules like its version of the DH, CRs and the one-time reentry sub stuff, none of that felt like it was within 500 miles of coming up as an issue in any of my games. I don't think the test should get rid of them, but the ratio of "what happens if you pinch hit for the catcher then CR him?" vs "is this obstruction?" feels pretty skewed in the wrong direction to me.

I definitely got helpful feedback from my partners, but right now my main thing is I wish I had ways to practice certain scenarios on-command with more experienced umpires offering the training. Like give me a group of HS kids fielding and running the bases and have someone hit fungos for certain scenarios for us to practice how exactly the mechanics should work at game speed. Like I know if I'm plate, my base umpire is in A and they're staying on the line to judge fair/foul down the RF line then I should take the plays on the bases, but it's something I'd feel much more confident in seeing it practiced in a controlled setting. I'd also love "is this a balk?" training where they just have someone do assorted weird-looking things on the mound and we have to figure out if it's just weird or an actual balk. Perhaps the camps offer stuff like that, dunno.

As for the rest of the baseball season, I'm definitely fine with sticking with my local rec ball org I worked with last year. I told my assigner as professionally as I can "I'm a HS ump now, don't you dare give me any u10 games" and he's respected that. My HS org does have a bunch of travel, but none of it is in my county and I'm not exactly someone dying to drive over 30 minutes to a game. The HS org does have fall ball weeknight games, which intrigues me as something I'm pretty sure my county doesn't offer, but otherwise I'm prioritizing shorter drives and less intense games even if working travel with the HS org would probably offer more valuable reps. 

I think if I write any more paragraphs I'll learn if this site has a character limit lol but yeah, that's year one of working high school in the books! 😎

[The Man in Blue]

Congrats on Year 1, @orangebird!

I can't say it will be true, but expect your game assignments to double next year.  In areas that are not forced to use brand new umpires, there seems to be a stigma in Year 1.  Year 2 magically becomes a different story, even when they know nothing about your previosu season.

On the ball off the batter as PU, absolutely that.  Give the PU a beat to make the call, then kill it if you have it.  One of my pet peeves is a BU who says, "Well, yeah, I saw it . . . "  This is not a call we should ever get together on to have that conversation, and we especially should not have to turn around and call a foul ball at that point.

You are spot on with practicing mechanics.  There are very few avenues for it.  

[orangebird]

23 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

Congrats on Year 1, @orangebird!

I can't say it will be true, but expect your game assignments to double next year.  In areas that are not forced to use brand new umpires, there seems to be a stigma in Year 1.  Year 2 magically becomes a different story, even when they know nothing about your previosu season.

On the ball off the batter as PU, absolutely that.  Give the PU a beat to make the call, then kill it if you have it.  One of my pet peeves is a BU who says, "Well, yeah, I saw it . . . "  This is not a call we should ever get together on to have that conversation, and we especially should not have to turn around and call a foul ball at that point.

You are spot on with practicing mechanics.  There are very few avenues for it.  

Yeah I was going to add this in the post but forgot but if a hitter struggles with a low/away pitches, they can use a tee, if a pitcher struggles with throwing curves, they can throw a bullpen...if an ump struggles with doing rotations properly, well, can't do much other than hope it comes up really often your next game

[WIUMP]

2 hours ago, orangebird said:

The biggest issue that came up was "did that batted ball touch the batter in the box?", which was a point of discussion in a pair of games. I had plate and the fielding team coach came because he thought a single should've been a foul ball, but I didn't see it and my partner didn't see it so the fielding team coach definitely let out an annoyed "what are we doing people?" or something like that but when he came to me with a lineup change like 20 minutes later he seemingly got over it. Then I had a pretty obvious foul ball off the foot working base I saw, plate ump let it play out, we conferenced and overturned it in about five seconds lol. When I pregamed with one of the college guys he told me that if it looks obvious to you as the base ump, give the plate ump a second, and if it hasn't been called, then you can call it foul, which I found really helpful and will definitely be something I try to use going forward.

Congrats on the season.

IMO, this is one of the most difficult calls in crew of two. Plate is often blocked off. Plus, I think it may be physically impossible for our eyes, which capture about 7 frames per second (a standard definition camera operates at 30 FPS), to actually see this unless the stars align in our favor.  U1, especially in B or C, unless the ball has some crazy spin coming off the batter, is in a tough spot too.

I had a conversation with @MadMax about this scenario. I'll let him give specifics if he chooses. Since that conversation, I've been loudly and confidently killing anything that has any indicator of being a batter hit in the box by a batted ball even if I don't actually see the contact. If nothing else, talking with Max gave me license to make the call and not wait for my partner who is probably waiting for me to make the call.

[DevildogUmp]

3 hours ago, orangebird said:

I definitely got helpful feedback from my partners, but right now my main thing is I wish I had ways to practice certain scenarios on-command with more experienced umpires offering the training. Like give me a group of HS kids fielding and running the bases and have someone hit fungos for certain scenarios for us to practice how exactly the mechanics should work at game speed. Like I know if I'm plate, my base umpire is in A and they're staying on the line to judge fair/foul down the RF line then I should take the plays on the bases, but it's something I'd feel much more confident in seeing it practiced in a controlled setting.

One of the things I teach to new umpires working the plate in 2-man. With no one on and a fly ball to the outfield, you have 2 possible responsibilities and neither one of them involve the PU staying at the plate. Just bust out and start moving. Once you are 5-10 steps into the infield, glance at your partner. If he/she went out, keep moving towards second to take the B/R. If he/she came in, keep moving as far out as you can to be set for the catch/no catch. If you wait at the plate to see what your partner decides, you are already too late to cover your responsibilities. 

I'm not sure what type of training your association offers, but what you are looking for is something an association should be providing. In Indiana, the state allows for only 1 official 'controlled" scrimmage (between 2 schools) during the last week of preseason where teams usually will work specific conditions. Our association also works with local schools to work intra-squad scrimmages and work with live pitching in cages. We have also gotten permission the past 2 years to run special scrimmages for training with our new umpires.

[Velho]

2 hours ago, WIUMP said:

U1, especially in B or C, unless the ball has some crazy spin coming off the batter, is in a tough spot too.

I've become hesitant to call the one off the batter foot rom base because there have been too many that I've been about to call but it was just spin.

[orangebird]

Reporting in from rec ball land, where they've got this elaborate run rule that seems to be new for year lol

[Velho]

7 hours ago, orangebird said:

eporting in from rec ball land, where they've got this elaborate run rule that seems to be new for year lol

Been there, done that just last week (was softball though)

[BLWizzRanger]

With a tournament going on now, the run rules are 20/1, 15/2, 12/3, 10/4, and 8/5.

Seems to me, the TD didnt like the complaint that one team's lineup didnt turn over after two or three innings.

[orangebird]

1 minute ago, Velho said:

Been there, done that just last week (was softball though)

This was also softball!

[Jay R.]

As somebody who does both baseball and softball: 
Get ready to learn new sets of rules. I dipped a toe into rec softball after moving next to a park, and didn't realize how much I didn't know until I got high school certified for both baseball and softball last year. (I had done LL baseball pretty heavily for about seven years, and learned major differences in baseball codes.) Obstruction, for one, is penalized very differently. OTOH learning LL baseball mechanics tends to help with softball.