Tagged With "HS"
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Re: HS Umpiring
Years ago after getting my first DLSR I joined a photograph forum for some pointers. Of course people posted pics. One was of a catcher and umpire the fraction of a second before the ball hit the catchers mitt. It was a great pic and I regret losing track of it. Oh yeah, both the catcher and ump had their eyes closed, LOL.
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Re: HS Umpiring
If you think you can do better, you can always try - I betcha that's "a" reason some guys get started umpiring. If you don't want to take the punishment, then stop complaining. It's not an enjoyable experience getting hit with a FB that the catcher doesn't move to catch or a foul that either gets you on the arm or off the plate and up into your nether regions. Consistency is something you strive for as an umpire, but when the pitcher gets lucky to find the zone 1 out of 6 pitches thrown or...
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Re: HS Umpiring
I will take your game over the one I saw this year. JV game, both sides had fairly good command of the strike zone. There were a lot of painted corners and very VERY pretty pitches....all BALLS! Up the middle, waist height, was the only strike being called. Both sides tried 3 different pitchers, from super fast to super slow, heck we threw in a submarine pitcher...nothing worked. Between both sides the ump rung up 25 walks that game....game was almost 3 hours long!
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Re: HS Umpiring
Good umpiring in HS games is not hard to find. Good CONSISTENT umpiring is, alas, often hard to find. I tip my hat to those who work hard to make baseball games possible in the first place. I will add that my son, a 2017 catcher who can get very frustrated when he gets a late-game called strike that he, having been catching all along and having both the best view of the pitches and "working knowledge" of the umpire's strike zone, was not a strike until then. So being a catcher can be a...
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Re: HS Umpiring
Agree. Parallax error works against the umpire on both the up-down and in-out planes for the low outside pitch. An umpire who consciously decides to give a little extra on the outside edge can end up giving an embarrassing amount, even more so at the bottom of the outside edge. My approach is to call the defined zone as I see it without compensating for the known error. It seems to help me with consistency while keeping my zone within expected parameters. I halfway suspect that the common...
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Re: HS Umpiring
Keep in mind that I'm referring to the outside limits. Inside is much tighter...If a batter gets hit by something off the plate, it's not a strike.
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Re: HS Umpiring
Good points here. RE #3 - I think it's been posted here before that a while back some PHD statistician types published a paper making a good case that pro umps' zones change depending on the count. IE, the zone widens at 3-0 and narrows at 0-2. RE #2 - anyone who has gotten behind the dish to call even a Little League game knows that the low outside corner is really very difficult to call accurately. And knowing that, as a HS baseball hitter's parent, I can live with it. But working in the...
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Re: HS Umpiring
This is amazing. This just became part of my teaching repertoire when we discuss hitting plans.
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Re: HS Umpiring
I've never seen HS lines drawn like that. The batters box usually starts one ball width away from the edge of the plate. Just think if you're an umpire, you get paid per game, but you have the power to maximize your per hour wage. You could typically either be making $37.50/hr or $25/hr. If you were to call a perfect game, you'd probably make $18.75/hr. So the bottom line is how much money do you want to make, right? Every ump has the ability to call a perfect game. In every scrimmage we've...
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Re: HS Umpiring
I can't express enough how much I relate to the OP. If a pitch is so far outside that the batter can't hit it while staying in the batters box it should not be called a strike. Yet I see it all the time. What's worse is when you have college, and now pro scouts there to see your kid and the ump just screws him. Now as to what I quoted. My son is off to college next year. Only time will tell but he just might have a future in baseball. The last thing I need is for him to get into the habit of...
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Re: HS Umpiring
All mlb umpires are amazingly good. They have bad days too but mlb games happen at an incredible pace and those things are hard to see. The bucknor thing was bad but every call by mlb umpires is reviewed and if it happens too often they will lose their jobs. If bucknor had such nights regularly he would lose his job soon. Amateur umpires are worse but it is still not easy to see behind the plate. Any hs or younger parents or coaches that complains about bad hs umpires should ask themselves...
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Re: HS Umpiring
Let's see .... scrimmage... coach is umpire... player complains... player loses play time because coach doesn't like being shown up or doesn't want the player doing that in a game.... it's a scrimmage... pitchers aren't trying to paint corners... generally it's throw a 4 seamer mostly - easiest pitch to call... pitchers aren't at pitch 100 in the 3rd inning... catchers aren't flailing all over the place trying to pull a ball 9" off the plate back on... catchers aren't set up in the other...
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Re: HS Umpiring
hsbaseball101 posted: I've never seen HS lines drawn like that. The batters box usually starts one ball width away from the edge of the plate. … I will say that not all teams draw the lines correctly, but in 20 years of watching HS baseball, I don’t remember ever seeing a batter’s box only 3” away from the plate, and I usually look.
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Re: HS Umpiring
UMMMMMM, I am pretty sure that if the guy is coaching at the college level or a professional scout he can tell a ball from a strike. I am going to go on record and be willing to bet you any amount of money you wish that if an umpire "screws" a kid on a bad call that is not going to cost the kid a draft slot or scholarship money. On top of that, in that moment what the most important this is to that scout or coach is how the hitter handles it mentally and emotionally.
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Re: HS Umpiring
Yes RC's/scouts can tell balls /strikes. The thing is interest in the kid is because of how far he hits the ball. Fact is there are many players with higher batting averages, but I would guess not to many able to send a ball 450'. Between pitchers pitching around him and some very generous strike zones it can be a challenge to put the ball in play. The kid has his ticket punched college wise. I'm assuming the MLB will still exist in 3-4 years. The pitchers throwing around him, and the...
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Re: HS Umpiring
All he gets is offspeed and FB's out of the zone. Or at least the zone as defined by the rule book. They don't care if they walk him, which is fine except for the umps and their "strike zones". It's not unusual for him to get 3 - 4 AB's in a game and see 2 or 3 fastballs.
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Re: HS Umpiring
I can tell you this is the case. Scouts watch for this, and even talk to umpires before or after games. I know of one 1st-round pick from the HS I attended that dropped a couple of slots because he had a tendency to visibly demonstrate his displeasure with umpires. I worked two of his games and in one of them, he got fooled on a beautiful slider that broke in on the inside corner. He started to argue--nothing ejectable, just him being foolish--and his coach pulled him right then and there,...
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Re: HS Umpiring
Strike! You know it's over the plate simply based on where the catcher set up and caught the pitch. My question is if it was below the zone. Hard to tell, but based on what I see I am 99% sure It was at the knees or above at some point while the ball was over the plate.
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Re: HS Umpiring
Can't tell 100% from here. In-out: Catcher's crotch looks to be on the outside corner and he doesn't reach across his body to receive the pitch. It's either ok or close on the in-out. Up-down: It's dropping a lot, could have been high enough at the front of the zone. Nothing conclusive either way on the up-down from this angle. Not a safe pitch to take with two strikes. Why do you ask?
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Re: HS Umpiring
Meh, 80/20 it's a strike, given the relatively poor angle we have to work with? Not that it matters because that's nowhere near a controversial call or the worst call you'll see in a HS season (or even in just one game).
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Re: HS Umpiring
No particular reason besides we're talking balls and strikes. The kid at the plate (an IU recruit) didn't think it was a strike. That was the kid on the mound. Like I said there's a love/hate thing going on with the umps, LOL.
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Re: HS Umpiring
Look where the ball is here. Guessing as to if this is at the front edge of the plate or not. May not be a strike (impossible angle to know for sure), but it's way to close to take and then bat flip afterward.
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Re: HS Umpiring
3-2 and RISP, that's a hittable pitch that he got fooled on. The ball's coming out slowly so if the catcher caught it where his glove was set up that would've been belt high. It was probably knee high crossing the plate. He didn't extend his hand, just dropped down a bit. Even if it's a tad low, that's going to be called a strike at any level.
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Re: HS Umpiring
There is no black part of home plate. Home plate is white, and no other color. Some home plates that you buy come with a built-in border that is commonly black. The black border has two purposes. First, it protects the edges of the white home plate so that they remain straight and don't get eroded/jagged. Second, it provides a sharp visual contrast to aid the umpire. If someone says they are "giving the black," the translation is, "I am substituting my opinion on what the width of home plate...
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Re: HS Umpiring
It's not our opinion. It's what's expected. An umpire that calls only the width of the plate at the levels we are discussing will not be umpiring long.
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Re: HS Umpiring
Matt13 posted: It's not our opinion. It's what's expected. An umpire that calls only the width of the plate at the levels we are discussing will not be umpiring long. Do you really think that an umpire who calls a perfect zone would be canned at any level?
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Re: HS Umpiring
It usually takes a while, but strike zone threads eventually get around to someone saying why you don’t just call the zone as defined in the rule book or why is it that umpires have "their" zone and not the rule book zone..... My zone is just what happens when I am behind the plate attempting to judge a 3 dimensional strike zone that changes based on the batters height. If you can imagine an invisible floating column, 17 and a half inches wide that extends from a horizontal line at the...
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Re: HS Umpiring
Thanks for responding PIAA: question for you and HS umpires in general. Do you ever just have an off-game in terms of calling balls and strikes and you KNOW it? And if so, is that awareness linked to extra chirping from the peanut gallery?
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Re: HS Umpiring
Quick follow-up question - how do you manage the various stances, especially some taller players scrunching down trying to minimize the zone? Is the some rule or guidance that addresses the "normal" stance?
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Re: HS Umpiring
Matt13 posted: Yes. That seems like a shame to me. Why bother with rules then, and what’s gonna happen when MLB finally goes to calling pitches not swung at using technology?
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Re: HS Umpiring
People stop watching? People stop coming the ballpark? Games are longer? Pitchers learn how to throw the eephus pitch and baseball turns into slow pitch softball. Part of the joy of this game is discussing and/or complaining about "stuff" that you cannot control. Not every stat ever recorded is done in a consistent manner (error or hit - I don't know depends on the fielder sometimes) - there is always judgement a/k/a "scorer's decision" involved. Guess we can have a computer tell us that too...
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Re: HS Umpiring
Would love to see technology call balls and strikes. My son is way too old for any cheap technology to get to the lower levels. He will never see it. For lower level ball you could set the zone at 20" or more. I understand a 9 year old baseball game will never get over if you call a strict strike zone. But we are talking high school here. You should be able to throw strikes. But umpires have their own little kingdom and usually have the personality where that control and authority is very...
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Re: HS Umpiring
We aren't talking MLB, though... Funny you mention it, though--the reason that the strike zone changed this year is because umpires were calling it very consistently and MLB did not intend for that to happen when they set the last one in 1996.
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JohnF posted: People stop watching? People stop coming the ballpark? Games are longer? Pitchers learn how to throw the eephus pitch and baseball turns into slow pitch softball. Part of the joy of this game is discussing and/or complaining about "stuff" that you cannot control. Not every stat ever recorded is done in a consistent manner (error or hit - I don't know depends on the fielder sometimes) - there is always judgement a/k/a "scorer's decision" involved. Guess we can have a computer...
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Re: HS Umpiring
I had one rule for my players. "It is not his job to adjust to your interpretation of the strike zone. It is your job to adjust to his interpretation of the strike zone. So watch and learn, quickly." I had one request of the crew - "Please be consistent for the entire game regardless of the situation." My idea of a bad call is anything that falls outside of the "consistent" area. Once the zone has been established lets keep it right there. I understand you are going to make some calls during...
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Re: HS Umpiring
2020dad posted: Would love to see technology call balls and strikes. My son is way too old for any cheap technology to get to the lower levels. He will never see it. For lower level ball you could set the zone at 20" or more. I understand a 9 year old baseball game will never get over if you call a strict strike zone. But we are talking high school here. You should be able to throw strikes. But umpires have their own little kingdom and usually have the personality where that control and...
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Re: HS Umpiring
Anyone who's been a pitcher knows how hard it is to hit the strike zone. The plate looks like 2 inches wide from 60ft. Pitchers in our division are averaging 200 pitches per 9ip, so it's an arm health concern as well.
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WHAT? Was that a mistype? 200 pitches per 9 innings? So 100 pitches per 4.5 innings? Um, are these numbers typical because I have to say that is NOT what I'm seeing in my neck of the woods.
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Yes, we all have had that inning or even a whole game...... I have known it and: struggled to correct it and no one even noticed...no chirping... no complaints. struggled and took heat for it. Called a great game... At a certain point in your umpire career "chirping from the peanut gallery" just fades into the background. At a HS game I assume I'm going to see 200+ pitches....there are going to be called pitches that both teams fans aren't going to like. The trained umpire has methods to get...
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Re: HS Umpiring
There are a number of mechanical guides taught to assist the umpire in establishing the normal batting stance of a player. Watch an umpire when a batter enters the box and takes a few warm up swings. His eyes will be checking heights and distances....then he will sink into a stance that allows him to gauge the natural stance.
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I recalculated taking a random sample of 6 teams, and it's actually 150 pitches per 9 innings on average. This is the lowest division in CA.
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Interesting which part of my response you chose to focus on and which you chose to ignore. There was certainly a lot of tongue in cheek though - an absurd response for the premise that using technology to call the game for pitches not swung at ostensibly "just" to make the strike zone better. Once you start down the path of technology people strive to keep improving it and to keep using for more things (which is what I was trying to illustrate)... Although I do recall one technological...