Odd Flyball Mechanic

crudy10+ posts

I was talking with my our varsity coach today (I'm the freshmen coach)and he described a strange play today. R1 only and a routine flyball is hit in the infield. F3 makes his call "Ball, Ball" preparing to catch the pop up and the next thing everyone hears is the PU saying "I got it, I got it, I got it." He seemed to be talking to his partner, but this is a mechanic I have never seen or heard of. This is a well known umpire and one they see regularly and have not ever had this issue. Is there any reason for him to verbalize anything in this situation? Is this something anyone has seen before?

Coach Rudy

4/18/093:04 AM

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dash_riprock1,000+ posts

No reason to verbalize anything. IF the pop-up is in a gray area of responsibility, and IF something odd happens requiring a signal on the catch/no catch, simple eye contact before the call should take care of who will call it.

4/18/096:21 AM

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piaa_ump5,000+ posts

I agree with Dash, as I am lucky to work with pretty experienced partners, rarely do we have to do any verbal communications....a look or one of the acceptable umpire signals is all that it takes to get the job done...

Now that being said,. I have seen this done....The PU was definately telling his partner that he had the ball, as in he had "the Catch"....it was a reminder to the BU that he had the tag....The PU may not have had an experienced partner or one in whom he had not worked with before...

4/20/098:41 AM

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fvb10100+ posts

what it likely means is that your PU is a fairly recent player. The proper vocalization if he decides to make one is slightly different than the one he used. He probably should have said, "I've got the ball". instead of echoing what a player would say.

4/21/0911:26 PM

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