Quote:
Originally Posted by RKBUmp
I know to hold the pitcher by holding up your hand. Was just trying to figure out if this is some new directive at the JC level.
At club and high school levels we have been instructed to not award the batter time once both the batter and pitcher are set unless there is a legitimate reason. The key words being both set. Every batter takes just a second to set themselves when they get in the box, no one is ever ready the second the 2nd foot touches the ground.
Most pitchers will wait for the batter to be obviously set, but a few have figured out which umpires are not holding them and are quick pitching before the batter is set.
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i learned this year that there are pitchers who don't even look at my stop sign and just start to pitch, so I put my stop sign right on top of the catcher's helmet and in a tournament, i had this pitcher who quick-pitched way too much, so I deliberately took my sweet time to get set, keeping my stop sign on top of the catcher's helmet, got into my crouch and then pointed to the pitcher to pitch. a couple of those "slow down" messages and a few "no pitch" calls got her coach to tell her to wait till i'm ready...
i've even had a few pitch when i'm still putting on my mask, so I learned to put on my mask to the side of the plate rather than behind the plate... i already give them a huge strike zone, they need to give me a chance to get ready or i'm just going to keep "no pitch"ing them...
i'll extend the "time" courtesy to the batter unless it's being done deliberately to slow down the game since they already have to deal with my huge strike zone, they should get a chance to step out for a sec up to a point.
once i had a 3 hour game and both teams were just dilly dallying between innings and it took them 2hrs 15 min to play the first 4 innings (lots of runs too) so after the 4th inning, i took away the between inning warmups, as soon as the 3rd out was made, i yelled: "balls in, batter up!" played the last 3 innings in 45 min.