[EsqUmp]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

No it doesn't. It is a strike, call it as strike and the proper mechanic is an arm in the air.



I'll go a step further, get rid of the theatrics and just call the strike. If out, sure go ahead an call the batter out. Why do people feel the need to "sell" a called third strike? I just don't see the need for it.

Since coming over from baseball, have never used anything other than the standing mechanic and use an inflection of the call as an indicator of it's importance. Well, I'm lying. In a SP fundraiser I took a called third strike halfway to 3B on this jackass who made it his part-time job to tell everyone how weak the game of softball was, that real men play baseball. His team loved it, told him to shut up and sit down, it wasn't the umpire's fault he didn't swing the bat.



So, of course, the umpire needs to take up the slack of poor coaching.

Maybe the next move is to create an umpire-to-umpire signal of when the DTS possibility exists. Or, for that matter, let's have the PU give a signal for all to see, that way there is no excuse for the teams to not be aware of the situation.

It prevents problems. The fact that a strike and an out are signaled the same leads to problems. If I can use a signal/mechanic to prevent a problem, then it is worth using. It has nothing at all to do with the coaches. It has to do with me, as an umpire, communicating what happened. That is what signals are for, after all.