Quote:
Originally Posted by umpire99
I was working the bases in a two man FED game last night where a batter got hit by a pitch and my partner kept him at the plate. When the offensive coach asked why, my partner told him that because his elbow was over the plate when the pitch hit him. At this point, the defensive coach asked if the pitch was a strike and my partner said that it was not a strike because it hit him. I didn't inject myself into the discussion because I was trying to keep the first base coach from going down to take part in the discussion. Should I have stepped in and helped with this?
Earlier in the game a batter hit a ball that I saw go straight down and then change direction. Immediately after that, the batter hopped around as if the ball had hit him in the foot. F1 fileded the ball and threw to F3 for the out. The offensive coach (defensive from the other play) asked if the ball had hit the batter. I gave him a definative "no" and he didn't question any further. When the inning ended I told the coach that the ball had probably hit the batter, but I didn't see it so I didn't call it. He said, "okay" as he continuted to the dugout.
I was very impressed that this coach did not argue either play after getting answers from me and my partner. Why can't they all be like this?
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Your first response: "I didn't see it hit him, Coach." Giving a definitive answer when you really aren't sure isn't the right path to go, IMO.
However, if it's obvious to you that it probably did hit him even though you didn't see ball hit foot, read the cues (as in, did the batter really have time to fake such a thing) and come up and kill it. The plate guy isn't going to see all of them and you're 100+ feet away and won't see them all either.