Quote:
Originally posted by Bob Proctor
As I read the mechanic, it says all balls that have a chance to bounce over the fence. I assume that balls that are not hit down the lines can bounce over the fence too. That being the case, it appears that all of the umpires on the crew will be watching a lot of big flies while runners are circling the bases. Especially if their coach knows the ball will land deep in fair territory without an outfielder making a play on it and he knows the umpires won't be watching the his runners. If the ball has a chance to bounce over the fence, and the umpires are all watching the ball, who (besides the defensive coach) is watching for the runners to touch the bases? Have a good time trying to explain to the coaches that your mechanic is to watch the ball and not the runners.
If a big fly ball bounces once and almost goes over the fence ... and an umpire steadfastly argues with a coach that the runner touched the base ... does the crew chief rate him down for not following the standard mechanic?
Sounds like this wasn't very well thought out, or maybe was instituted because an umpire with influence in his association had one bad experience with a similar situation ... (knee jerk?)
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Watch, glance, watch, glance.....
I just don't see the big deal. We all do pick up the ball -- it's not like we are fixating on the runners all the way around the bases.