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Reply to "MiLB - Experimental Rules"

@NewUmpire, I have to respectfully disagree with the 1st one from a coach and former player standpoint. While I do agree that the time between innings should be kept brief, you should always allow a pitcher adequate time to warm up. A good 5 throws to get everything loosened back up between innings should be non-negotiable simply from an injury standpoint. Also to note, I would argue that this actually serves to speed up the game. A lot of big/long innings with crooked numbers usually start with control issues.

My Top 3 Biggest Time Sucks At Any Level Of Baseball:

#1. Pitchers not able to pound the strike zone

#2. Ump not giving the high strike or the inside corner

#3. The absence of situational hitting



ps...  as a coach, I ain't warming up my pitchers so no need to ask. I have officially gotten to old for that non-sense, as I have painfully learned that most of my pitchers throw faster than my eyes can focus. Maybe 20 years ago....

w/r/t: time to warm up...

For this one, umpires have the rules on their side (6-2-2 exc). A starting or relief pitcher gets not more than 8 completed in 1 minute timed from first throw... Each subsequent inning is not more than 5 throws completed in one minute timed from the 3rd out of the previous inning.

In games where this is followed, things move along, players hustle, etc. In games where this is lax, the game drags. You may not like it, but you wouldn't want the umpire choosing which rules to follow and which to ignore, right? If you're not going to warm the P up that's fine, but please find someone on your bench that can. You certainly find someone to warm-up the next guy in the 'pen, right? It's such a simple thing to do.

w/r/t: "#2. Ump not giving the high strike or the inside corner"

What do you mean "high strike" - how high? Belt? or "Halfway between the batter's shoulders and the waistline... in a natural batting stance." Please define your natural stance too since it's hotly debated with crouches and leans factoring into the picture.  Are you accepting of this being called *both ways*.  My experience is coaches that want this only want it for their pitcher not their batters. Two things happen seem to happen a lot with swings on high strikes - popups or foul balls into my mask - I'll take the former, but the latter sucks.

As for inside corner - I give it, but I also get why it's hard. Batters in HS see a lot of pitches 1-3 balls off the plate called for strikes (it speeds up the game, right?). So I see more batters crowd the plate. If the C sets up inside and the pitch is maybe knee high, but the umpire is totally blocked because the C moved into the slot it's hard to call a strike you cannot see as you're taught to look over the top in this case. Teach your C to give space. If a C asks me, I'll let him know I need the space - he usually gets it.



One thing that drives me nuts - 2 FB's  that the batter is not close to catching up, followed by 3 CB's in the dirt, and then something just out of the zone and I'm blamed for being too tight.  I get a P cannot just pump FB's, but control is helped by repetition and rhythm - so why disrupt either with 3 waste pitches?  You've not only adjusted the batters eyes, but you've also adjusted the umpires eyes - think about it...

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