[Rich]

Originally Posted by pdxblue

You are welcomed to think that way. But that kind of thinking goes against just about every umpiring mechanics training I have received.

In my personal experience, I have found that it sells the call a LOT better, and people have told me that it actually shows MORE confidence in the call. It is akin to calling close plays on the bases more emphatically.

Anyway, if your local evaluators don't see any value in adjusting how much emphasis you use on calls that are obvious or close, then go ahead and call everything the same. But I am about 99.9% sure that your local evaluators would be more impressed with your calling close "ball" calls more emphatically.

What's a local evaluator? I'm so glad I don't have to put up with someone consistently second-guessing my officiating.