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Old Thu Aug 11, 2011, 12:40pm
UES UES is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 83
Quote:
I would never go to my partner on a batter's box issue.
While I agree with you for the most part, I think MIZFKU brings up a good point about tracking the pitch. One of the reasons for getting help on check/half swings is because it is impossible to have "one eye on the pitch and the other eye on the swing". Doesn't that same line of thinking apply to a play like this... ie, you can't have one eye on the pitch location/bunt attempt and the other eye on the batter's foot out of the box?

Now, I know that a base umpire positioned 90+ feet away isn't likely to see where that foot is in relation to the semi "wiped out" lines of the batter's box but I think you can see the point we're trying to make here. Unless you're looking for something like that (ie, you know that particular batter likes to drag bunt a lot), this is an extremely difficult call for the plate umpire to make... not to mention its usually the batter's FRONT foot (the fartherst part of the batter's body away from the umpire) that tends to be outside the box on plays like this.

Don't get me wrong, as a PU, I'm probably not going to get help on a play like this because I'd probably be putting my partner in a tough position because if the call does get changed, then one of us is likely going to have an EJ from the opposing coach. BUT, as a point of discussion amongst us umpires, is it necessarily a bad thing to get input from your partner in case, by chance, he happend to actually see the foot outside the box at the point of contact? Unless of course you're that special umpire who can have one eye look one way and the other look in a different direction Just something to think about...
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