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Reply to "MiLB - Experimental Rules"

@JohnF posted:

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...

In all attempt to keep this response short and simple:

Warm-up Times = we are literally debating 1 min intervals in games that usually are played under 2hr time limits in the first place, come on man this isn't were the game slows down..... If my catcher was the last out of the previous inning give him a hot second to get his stuff on.... trust me if he is actually lazy he won't be playing for me for long, so you ain't got that to worry about... also to note I make a habit to allow my backup catchers to moonlight in various other positions.... kind of hard to warm up the pitcher when you are in LF.... Lastly I don't keep a deep roster, tricky when kids get hurt/sick/etc.. but I can say that everyone I have gets a decent amount of playing time.

Strike Zone =  I'll keep this one simple as well. Call it both ways and just below the chest/nipple line is a strike. The ole letter high fastball is missed over and over again...maybe not by you... but it is missed often enough that I don't expect my pitcher to get that call... Same with the inside FB.... We really only pitch to that spot to get a swing and miss, a pop-up, or a setup pitch to drop in a curveball.... It very rarely ever ends up being a called 3rd strike when taken by a good hitter...

Waste Pitches = Complete waste of time for most pitchers.... only time I kind of understand wasting a pitch is if you cause something to move on a locked-in hitter... other than that you as a pitcher are freely giving away a clear advantage. 





   

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