[jkumpire]

A question for those of you who do HS baseball in states where the coaches rate you.

In the state I work in, this year they started a new rating system where coaches rate your work. They also have catagories where you supposedly "need improvement". These ratings are a joke. The catagory ratings are even more of a joke.

How much stock do you put into these ratings and catagories? For example, the number of people who said I need to imporove rules knowledge (or words to that effect, I don't want to be too specific to give the state away) exactly equals the number of games that I called a balk in. I also happen to be a local rules interpreter for my local association, so I know the rules. I guess where I live, if you call a balk, you don't know the rules. The only other time I had a coach say anything to me about a call all year was when some guys didn't think I called the HPB rule right (Come on blue, he's got to get out of the way, he's gotta make an attempt, you know the conversation well enough I don't need to repeat it all for you).

Another rating was for "umpire professionalism". What in the world does that mean in this context?

One one hand, I'm upset at some of the ratings I see. On the other hand, I shake my head in wonder and laugh it off. People who have no clue about mechanics, or even where to stand between innings rate mechanics. Right. It just seems as if you make a call they don't like, they sitck it to you. I've been doing baseball games for a long time, I pride myself on how I carry myself on and off the field and knowledge of the rules. I make mistakes like everyone else, but some of these ratings are nuts.

I would give my left arm to have a guy who knows what he's doing come out and evaluate me. I would be glad to pay someone who knew how to umpire to evaluate me, since that will help me get better. All these ratings and catagories do is give you a bad reputation when it comes time for tournament assignments.

How do you guys feel about these things in your state?