The "make up calls" discussion triggered some thoughts in my mind, the first of which is that in most games there really aren't that many really close calls. I'm talking bang-bang plays. If one of our batters gets thrown out by a half step at first, all of our parents (and sometimes the coaches) start screaming 'safe', 'you suck', etc. Ok, a batter being out by a half step isn't that close, and it's not really a tough call for a good ump. I really have a hard time watching games with the other parents on our teams. Most know so little about the game and can't be objective when their kids are involved. That's not to say there aren't blown calls. There certainly are. Most of the umps we have in 12u and 10u are good enough, not great, but good enough. We have all one-man crews so as long as the ump is hustling out to make calls, I generally give him the benefit of the doubt even if I think he missed one or two.
My only common complaint is the strike zone. Of course the consistency issue is there as well as (in my opinion), the general expectations for younger age groups. When I'm sitting to the side of home plate, the ump has a much better view of the corners than me. But I can see up and down much better than him. It's easy to see where the top and bottom of the strike zone are and it's pretty easy to tell when the ump calls something he hasn't been calling the whole game. But the bigger question for me is why do umps in youth leagues (and other levels as well I guess) give pitches 4-5 inches off the corners, but don't give anything above the belly button. Especially in 10u and similar ages, there's no way a batter can put the bat on a pitch 4-5 inches off the outside corner. But they can certainly make contact with a ball over the plate, at the letters. The design, or interpretation of the strike zone in this way makes no sense to me. Don't get me wrong, when my son is pitching I'll take the wide zone. But generally, I don't think it's as fair to young batters.
The other big complaint I have is that our local leauges and tournaments don't use two-man crews for our games. There are so many plays that a single ump can't get an angle on, it's inevitable that there will be missed calls. We had one last night. Our batter fouled a pitch off his foot, the ball rolled fair but the batter jumped up and down and stayed in the box..."foul ball" was the call correctly. The very next pitch, the batter chops the ball straight down, and when it bounces back up it goes off his leg into fair territory. The batter took off for first and the pitcher came in and tried to make the throw to first. Of course it should have been a foul ball (I saw it), but the ump was blocked and probably went on the players' reactions. Can't blame him there. But the other team gave him hell. The pitcher threw the ball into RF and two runs scored. After the play the other coaches were all over him. But there was really no way for him to call it a foul ball.
That's enough for now. I'll wait and see if others have similar experiences.
Jon
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