[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Clint

Ok I'm a first yearer. I did a full year of baseball umping this year. I was always one of the more delayed umps in the league. I developed this delay when I had my first time behind the plate and anxioty got the best of 1 or two calls. So I started the Read..1..2..react. There are a few coaches who realize that is does make my calls more accurate most the time but catch a lot of critisism from others. The time where it gets the wost is in a hot-box when it is a player that almost avoids the tag and he is halfway back to the other bag after my 2 srcond delay. I feel that especially whe there is hardly a tag you have to look hard for anything that would signal tag or no tag and is a good time for delay...but usually the only people who appreciate it are the ones I work with...everyone else gets real loud and claims I made the call on player reaction. How long do you usually delay the calls to be sure they are right? I've learned the 2 second thing.

IMO we need to differentiate the type of calls. Meaning on a TAG play we either saw it or didn't and thereore, we should not have to delay.

Let's the take the Tag play at first. F3 is pulled off the bag by an errant throw by say F6 and proceeds to attempt a tag on B1.

On this type of play as mentioned we either see it or we didn't. If we see it, other than F3 dropping the ball, we point with the left hand and signal He's Out on the tag or we signal Safe and say "he missed him". That type of call shouldn't take too long.

IMO the delay works more in calling balls / Strikes then plays on the bases. If you watched any of the LLWS especially the Eastern Region you noticed that the PU was calling the pitch before F2 even caught the ball.

The 2 second delay works well at the plate where you develop better timing and become more consistent.

Therefore, IMO anyway, on plays at the bases you don't need to delay. You need to let the play finish but you don't need to delay. You either saw a tag or you didn't. By let the play finish, I mean make certain F3 doesn't drop the ball in which case we say OUT / SAFE - allow runner to run through the bag and then make the call. Same is true on the catch / no catch - let play finish then make the call. I guess we could get into semantics but IMO waiting for a play to finish is not a delay.

Use the delay more in calling balls / strikes to make you more consistent.

As others mentioned delaying calls at the bases could call more attention to you then you need. Also, at least from my viewpoint I don't think making a call after play is FULLY completed is a delay it's called proper timing. How many times do you say "Show me the ball" - It's not a delay you are making certian player had the ball - You already KNOW runner is out, you are just making certain ball isn't on the ground.

Pete Booth