Quote:
Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser
Why are you 3-5 feet off the line?
You should be right next to the line in the A position.
Most umpires I work with these days give the bounding ball to the base umpire at or beyond the CUTOUT, not the bag. It's an easier reference point, and gives the base umpire the first crack to signal on the fair/foul bounding ball. If the base umpire hesitates, the plate umpire signals.
Rich
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I get off of the line about 2.5 to 4 feet but many clinics are advocating further in order to giv the plate ump an easy view of the line all the way out in cases of line drives or bounding balls.
Hugging the line is (imho) lazy umpiring mechanics. Again, its an opinion and it is a position that affords me a greater view for pickoff attempts etc.
I agree with you on the responsibiity from the cutout and not the bag, it works much better like that.