Quote:
Originally posted by PWL
I can remember when catching on those borberline calls having to look back, finding the umpire, looking to see if he had his arm extended to make a call or up in the out position. It really puts the defense at a disadvantage. You can have a runner on base and you have to make a tag and throw, when a tag is not necessary. Sometimes you have to make a throw to first because you don't even get an extended arm. Make a bad throw, runner advances, and guess what. Batter returns to the bench at the end of playing action.
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Only a very poorly coached catcher would look back to see if the umpire was signaling anything on an uncaught third.
All catchers playing baseball on the big diamond are taught to just tag the runner if they feel they miss-handled the pitch on strike three. If they miss the tag, then they're taught to throw to first. I caught all the way through high school and in my freshman year of college. I've never played with or against a catcher that inept at knowing his responsiblities.
Tim.
[Edited by BigUmp56 on Jan 12th, 2006 at 10:19 PM]