Three Umpire Crew

[johnnyg08]

Where do you put the least experienced umpire in a three person crew? 

I tend to lean with the plate. My reasoning is that they're used to calling pitches and there aren't a ton of vulnerable rotations for PU in three person. If he forgets to rotate up to third and vacate home, it's not typically an enormous issue. 

What do you think and why? 

[grayhawk]

Agree that you put him on the plate (as long as he's a good ball/strike guy). MUCH less for him to ponder about rotations and just a few differences between 2 man and 3 man.
 

[DevildogUmp]

I prefer to put the inexperienced guy at 1st. 

1. U1 only comes in for R2. Let the new guy get comfortable with the system with the least amount of bouncing back and forth to the inside.

2. U1 (at least how I pregame it) makes the initial decision to go out for a shot to center, so R3 needs to be able to key off of that decision. I would rather the inexperienced guy makes a decision they are used to from 2-man. An experienced U3 can make the adjustment.

3. With no-one on, a good U3 can push back on U1 trying to come in and take the BR to second by mistake.

4. U1 has a little more time to recognize the rotation and get down to the plate. Or U3 can remind him with enough time to get there.

While being on the plate is much closer to 2-man, I think an inexperienced guy gets a better feel for how the 3-man system runs as U1 because they aren't having to also deal with balls and strikes, lineups, substitutions, and all the other game management the plate deals with. This is especially true if the reason you are running 3-man is because it is now HS postseason and the pressure has gone up.

[grayhawk]

12 hours ago, DevildogUmp said:

I prefer to put the inexperienced guy at 1st. 

1. U1 only comes in for R2. Let the new guy get comfortable with the system with the least amount of bouncing back and forth to the inside.

2. U1 (at least how I pregame it) makes the initial decision to go out for a shot to center, so R3 needs to be able to key off of that decision. I would rather the inexperienced guy makes a decision they are used to from 2-man. An experienced U3 can make the adjustment.

3. With no-one on, a good U3 can push back on U1 trying to come in and take the BR to second by mistake.

4. U1 has a little more time to recognize the rotation and get down to the plate. Or U3 can remind him with enough time to get there.

While being on the plate is much closer to 2-man, I think an inexperienced guy gets a better feel for how the 3-man system runs as U1 because they aren't having to also deal with balls and strikes, lineups, substitutions, and all the other game management the plate deals with. This is especially true if the reason you are running 3-man is because it is now HS postseason and the pressure has gone up.

What I have seen with putting inexperienced umpires at U1 is that they tend to go out on nearly everything because they just don't feel comfortable NOT moving on every batted ball. So you just end up running the 2 umpire system all game which kind of defeats the point.

[Jay R.]

I had my first playoff assignments this year, and in two regular-season games with a three-man crew (to prep for playoffs) and two playoff games, I was U3 all four times. I think I had the hang of it by the end. 

I agree with @DevildogUmp that I wouldn't want to be the plate while learning the system. Otherwise, I'm mostly glad that I was in the same spot twice in one week to learn it, and have the same for the first playoff game. I think I could've done equally well as U1 or U3 in the fourth game.

[MadMax]

3 hours ago, grayhawk said:

What I have seen with putting inexperienced umpires at U1 is that they tend to go out on nearly everything because they just don't feel comfortable NOT moving on every batted ball. So you just end up running the 2 umpire system all game which kind of defeats the point.

They go out because we – those teaching the system to brand-new guys (and, MiLBU directs/influences us to do so) – instruct and expect them to do so, especially because it simply becomes 2-man, as you said. Then, once they’ve developed discernment (of trouble balls), they can (begin to) rim, or read in place. 

If you think about it, we’d rather have a U1 learn to go out on a fly ball (to his AoR) than to come in on every fly ball. These older / more experienced-in-2-man umpires have this bad habit on pivoting in on everything, while: 

1. There is an umpire (U3) coming to 2B, and… 
2. At higher levels, a deep grounder that would otherwise be a base hit to the outfield becomes a playable ball, and a late throw could imperil a U1 coming in, because he’s trying to “get out in front of the BR”. 

Provided that you direct a U1 to read first (the ball, your U3 partner, et. al.), and then disclose it becomes 2-man if U3 goes out, then the timing of things becomes more natural.

When I “Live Teach” 3-man, I typically take U3, tell the PU to just “run his game”, and do all the same Rotations as 2-man (except, eliminate the rotation to 3B with R1-R3, which, let’s be honest, most of us don’t employ that often in 2-man anyway), and then coach U1 during the game.