Umpire ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ratings

[The Man In Blue]

This thread is jumping all over the place ...

What do we mean by "rating" the umpires?

I'll tell you something that you don't often here, but it needs to be said more often ... umpires NEED to be evaluated and NEED to be given tools to self-evaluate. We don't get this and it is what leads to "poor" officiating.

In my roughly 15 years of doing this for dozens of different organizations and countless tournament directors, assignors, and UICs, I have been "formally" evaluated ONE time. It was at a USA state tournament and I had to remind the UIC multiple times that I wanted her to give me feedback.

In Illinois, the Illinois High School Association uses coach rankings as part of the selection process for post-season. After every varsity contest, the coach is supposed to log in to a portal and provide feedback on the official (all sports). Do you know what that feedback looks like? Rate the official on a scale of 1-5. That is all. There is no breakdown, no components, no space for feedback. Oh ... and officials do not get to see the results. That is NO help in making your officials better.

I know the video isn't great, but nearly every game I call is on video these days. And by "nearly" I mean "all." I do not have access to a single one of those. That is NO help in making officials better. I likely would not be able to see the strike zone or a banger of a play, but I can see my movements. I can see my focus. Did I miss a rotation? Should I work on getting another step or two to get a better angle on that play? What the heck actually happened on that goofy play in the 4th inning? Those are all things that could help us.

So YES ... I would be in favor of providing some way for coaches and even fans to rate us. I have kicked around the idea of setting up my own website and asking people to provide feedback. We would have to sort through lots of incorrect or useless information. Maybe even have to deal with some harrassment ... but some good data is better than no data.

PS -- @marriard 's early post on the levels was spot on. Even college games are relegated to who can get there for goofy game times rather than who is best qualified.

 

[_MIA_]

We would have to sort through lots of incorrect or useless information. Maybe even have to deal with some harrassment ... but some good data is better than no data.

Well at least you wouldn't have to see evaluations on your wardrobe like I have (they didn't like my sweatshirt and slides..I was slightly offended)

 

[The Man In Blue]

Well at least you wouldn't have to see evaluations on your wardrobe like I have (they didn't like my sweatshirt and slides..I was slightly offended)

That's actually one area an umpire should be evaluated in. Especially if they are wearing a sweatshirt and slides.

 

[_MIA_]

That's actually one area an umpire should be evaluated in. Especially if they are wearing a sweatshirt and slides.

I mean I was assuming you guys had set costumes you wore every game..

 

[The Man In Blue]

Dont look Here's some visual...

Both Yankees and Astros announcers were fed up with Angel Hernandez

During Sunday's Houston Astros-New York Yankees game, both team's announcers were fed up with Ángel Hernández and his antics behind the plate.

awfulannouncing.com

The score card isn't up yet for that game. (August 7 is up, but not August 6 ... weird.) I'm curious to see where that pitch tracks, because I wouldn't look at that TV shot and tell you it was definitely a strike ...

Here is the scorecard for the previous game. While you can say his accuracy was a bit low, I think you can say without a doubt that he was consistent. With the exception of one pitch, everything he called against the expected call was called a ball at the very bottom of the zone.




Oh, and the balk call ... totally a balk all day long in every code. Even the article sniffs its own backside and says it was a balk. But, here you go:

 

[LEsoftballdad]

This thread is jumping all over the place ...

What do we mean by "rating" the umpires?

I'll tell you something that you don't often here, but it needs to be said more often ... umpires NEED to be evaluated and NEED to be given tools to self-evaluate. We don't get this and it is what leads to "poor" officiating.

In my roughly 15 years of doing this for dozens of different organizations and countless tournament directors, assignors, and UICs, I have been "formally" evaluated ONE time. It was at a USA state tournament and I had to remind the UIC multiple times that I wanted her to give me feedback.

In Illinois, the Illinois High School Association uses coach rankings as part of the selection process for post-season. After every varsity contest, the coach is supposed to log in to a portal and provide feedback on the official (all sports). Do you know what that feedback looks like? Rate the official on a scale of 1-5. That is all. There is no breakdown, no components, no space for feedback. Oh ... and officials do not get to see the results. That is NO help in making your officials better.

I know the video isn't great, but nearly every game I call is on video these days. And by "nearly" I mean "all." I do not have access to a single one of those. That is NO help in making officials better. I likely would not be able to see the strike zone or a banger of a play, but I can see my movements. I can see my focus. Did I miss a rotation? Should I work on getting another step or two to get a better angle on that play? What the heck actually happened on that goofy play in the 4th inning? Those are all things that could help us.

So YES ... I would be in favor of providing some way for coaches and even fans to rate us. I have kicked around the idea of setting up my own website and asking people to provide feedback. We would have to sort through lots of incorrect or useless information. Maybe even have to deal with some harrassment ... but some good data is better than no data.

PS -- @marriard 's early post on the levels was spot on. Even college games are relegated to who can get there for goofy game times rather than who is best qualified.

Ask, and you shall receive. I stumbled across this channel a while back, and he does a great job of explaining rules and admitting when he gets things wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/@michaelleavitt4663/videos

 

[_MIA_]

Ask, and you shall receive. I stumbled across this channel a while back, and he does a great job of explaining rules and admitting when he gets things wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/@michaelleavitt4663/videos

Self-evaluation is important in every aspect of life. I would do some every day but I am not sure I could hide the resulting wailing from the wife and kids..

 

[The Man In Blue]

Ask, and you shall receive. I stumbled across this channel a while back, and he does a great job of explaining rules and admitting when he gets things wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/@michaelleavitt4663/videos

I've seen his stuff before, but not in a long time. Has he gotten better? The ones I've seen I didn't think he did a great job explaining what was going on.

On another tangent ... It feels a little yucky to me to video other people's kids and even yuckier to post it on the internet. This past summer I worked with a couple of umpires who wore body cameras and audio recorded on their phones. They said it was for "training" but ... most of the time there were sending it to the TD complaining about coaches or problems (sometimes of their own doing).

I don't know. I feel weird about recording other people's kids. (Maybe too many years in PR that I don't even like filming or taking pictures of adults without them knowing and giving permission.)

 

[Gtrips07]

I've seen his stuff before, but not in a long time. Has he gotten better? The ones I've seen I didn't think he did a great job explaining what was going on.

On another tangent ... It feels a little yucky to me to video other people's kids and even yuckier to post it on the internet. This past summer I worked with a couple of umpires who wore body cameras and audio recorded on their phones. They said it was for "training" but ... most of the time there were sending it to the TD complaining about coaches or problems (sometimes of their own doing).

I don't know. I feel weird about recording other people's kids. (Maybe too many years in PR that I don't even like filming or taking pictures of adults without them knowing and giving permission.)

I don't know if I'd work for a UIC that I had to record video for and as a UIC I don't think I'd want an umpire wearing a body cam like he's Sheriff Grady.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[flash277]

In school ball here, coaches are suppose to rate the umpires after a game on game management, rules knowledge, mechanics, etc. Then at end of year we get the list of all the ratings from varsity, jv, and middle school. it's nice to see where I sit amongst fellow umpires.
As for travel, there is zero ratings or feedback, nothing at all. The assignor probably just happy to have bodies out there week after week.