Quote:
Originally Posted by CecilOne
Not a rule requirement, but maybe it should be.
A question I have had is what to do if the pitcher was changed, not reported or noted at the time. Then the team wants a CR for the new pitcher, and the ump realizes it was the new one pitching, but not reported.
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I had this exact same thing come up in a game about two weeks ago.
Top of the inning and right before we start in I notice that a different pitcher is out there. Hey, all of these kids look alike and they're all wearing the same uniform, to boot! I'm surprised that I even noticed.
I went straight over to the bench and asked if there has been a pitching change. No, there's no rule about reporting positional changes (F6 had swapped with F1), but in my mind I need to know about the pitcher for courtesy runner purposes.
Coach immediately gets all defensive and starts going on about how it's a positional change and he doesn't need to report it and no other umpire has ever told him that...blah, blah, blah...
I just told him that there was no penalty involved if they didn't inform me, and I wanted to make note of the pitcher whether he told me or I noticed it myself, in which case I want to confirm its a new pitcher and that's all I was doing now. I told him that if it doesn't get recorded, then they ask for a courtesy runner, the pitcher of record would be the last pitcher I had on my line-up card.
I don't know if there's any backing for that, but it seemed like preventive umpiring at the time.