Suggestion on the old 'Crow Hop' complaint.

[Umpireernie]

IMO, the college coaches do not care as long as wins go up on the board. If the pitcher can change, great. If they cannot and it doesn't get called, why would the coaches care? The coaches do know a pitcher is illegal. Anyone who says they do not must not be that good of a coach to start.

A few years ago when the umpires WERE DIRECTED to call the IPs they saw, the coaches went wild to the point the umpires were told to "soften" it up a little and always give the benefit of any doubt to the pitcher. Well, with some umpires that meant "put your hand in your pocket" and don't call anything. To others, it meant doing their job and call it when they see it.

Even through the NCAA Championships, pitchers were getting caught and called. You would think after watching this happen for more than 3 months, the coaches would wise up. Well, they didn't and continued to put pitchers in the circle that they KNEW were illegal. I can only guess that they were assuming the umpire wouldn't call it or they could intimidate the umpires into overlooking their "ace" because she was an "ace".

Watched a load of games that series and even the Talking Heads pointed out the violations and the reason, but eventually turned on the umpires wanting to know why the umpires couldn't adjust to the violators instead of pondering why the violators couldn't adjust to the rules. The coaches never argued the point of the violation, but the fact that the umpire called it. The whines went on and on, from the "no one has called that all year" to "don't you know how important this game is to us", etc., but never heard a coach go on air and state that his/her pitcher wasn't illegal. Then you would get the teary-eyed youngster on air sobbing that, "I haven't been called illegal all year", when it takes about a minute to check NCAA stats to find out that this pitcher had been called dozens of times during the season and that only notes when baserunners were advanced, not the IP which occurred with the bases empty.

The highest level of ball I get to see is high school.. but you hear these same lines when an IP is called. I love these lines when delivered by a coach during The Discussion Following The Illegal Pitch.. coach is basically telling me in his opening statement that i was right about the IP, that the coach knows it, and he is simply mad that I had the audacity to actually make the right call.

Seriously if these coaches at the NCAA WCWS level are upset that umpires are calling infractions of the rules as written; that have been taught in videos and at clinics.. then get the rules changed. These are some of the top coaches in the game of softball they must have some input. I might have my opinion about if leaping should be allowed but if the powers that be decided to make it legal then so be it. Why would you want it written one way but called another?

 

[splinterpicker]

To me illegal pitches are almost like strike zones. No two umpires interpret what is stated in the rule book the same way.

 

[Lozza]

I don't think I've ever seen a plate umpire call IP. It will always be one of the base umpires.

MTR what's your opinion on plate umpires calling IP?

 

[Comp]

As already stated, there are certain infractions that are the primary responsibility of different umpires. The base umpire cannot really see what the pitcher is doing with the hands and in a 2 man system has no view of the pitching lane. Hand violations and pitching lane violations are typically calls made by the plate umpire. In a 3 man system when the umpires are rotated and one of the umpires is directly behind the pitcher, this umpire also has a good view of the pitching lane.

The plate umpire on the other hand has almost no view of the pitchers feet to see if they are both in contact with the plate, if there is a step back, a leap, replant etc. These calls are almost always made by the base umpire, other than violations of the pitching lane as mentioned above.

 

[BretMan]

As already noted, both umpires have equal authority to call illegal pitches. Generally, the base umpire may be more likely to call infractions involving the pitcher's feet- such as a crow hop, a leap, or an issue with not correctly engaging the pitcher's plate- just because he has the best view to see it.

The plate umpire may not have a good view of the pitcher's feet, not just because of his angle or position, but because his main focus is going to be the ball and it's release. Since he is focused on the ball, he will have a much easier time of seeing infractions like not bringing the hands together properly. Watching the pitcher's feet and the release and flight of the ball aren;t very conductive to being done at the same time.

There's nothing that says either umpire can't call certain infractions. The expectation is that if you are certain that you see an infraction, then you should call it. The reality is that some illegal pitches are almost impossible to see from some positions, while others will be faily obvious.

(PS: Comp and I obviously drink the same Kool Aid )

 

[MTR]

I don't think I've ever seen a plate umpire call IP. It will always be one of the base umpires.

MTR what's your opinion on plate umpires calling IP?

What they said.

As an umpire, if you see it, you call it. And when I say "see it", I mean see the violation, not guess it because of something you thought you may have seen. If a plate umpire sees a contact or delivery violation involving the feet, s/he can call it, but they better be damn sure that what they think they saw actually happened.

It is not uncommon to see an umpire miss a violation a time or two simply because s/he was not sure of what they saw. Once they determine a violation is actually happening, then they call it. It isn't because they were "waiting" to penalize the team at the right time, but because they were not going to guess the call. Remember a few things: Just because something "looks" wrong or goofy, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't legal; The umpire does not always have the ability to ignore everything by the pitcher's feet or hands, nor do that have a camera that reruns the alleged violation over and over and at slower speeds; the umpire needs to be in a certain location prior to the pitch and does not have the latitude to move around the field to find the best position to "catch" a pitcher doing something illegal.