This might be kind of nitpicking, but here is my question/situation. It is the 4th inning and the coach is out to switch pitchers. His pitcher gets to his 7 warm-up pitch and the catcher decides to run to the dugout to fix a bandage which he had on his finger. The coach comes in to finish his pitchers warm-up and procedes to take extra warm-up pitches while the catcher is being attended to. I (thinking I am doing the right thing) tell the coach that his pitcher has had his warm-up pitches and don't allow him to continue. Now that I am writing this...it sounds kind of bad what I did....was I wrong in doing this? This was the coach's 3rd pitching change and the catchers second time having to go to the dugout to fix a bandage on his finger.....the game was dragging and I wanted to move the game on. I also thought it was not fair for his pitcher to recieve extra throws because the catcher decided to take off after the 7th warm-up pitch. Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

I remember a coach who would come out to talk to the pitcher and on his way to the mound he would throw a ball to the 1B man, who would then begin warming up with the 2B man. After spending some time with the pitcher he would then make the change to bring in 1B man to pitch. Coaches will do what the can to get extra warmups. What if the bandage is a planned gimic to get more warmups? That is what comes to mind, especially since it happened after the 7th pitch. Give him 8 and call and end to it, and then wait for the catcher, unless it is cold and he was brought in cold (ie no bullpen warmpup), in which case allow him a few more pitches. If he is out to switch pitchers due to a pitcher injury or pitcher ejection (it has happened)give the new pitcher all he wants.

I also love it when the catcher is late getting out to warmup the pitcher after a half inning. If he gets there by the 5th warmup I tell him to throw it down. If he gets there after the 5th warmup we play ball. If a coach comes out to warmup the pitcher while catcher is getting ready I tell him to throw it down on the 5th warmup.

If the coach decides to have a defensive team meeting outside the dugout before taking the field and it takes too long for the meeting I tell the catcher to throw the first warmup pitch down. I love getting the fan comments after that one... Coach sometimes gets the message and sometimes not.

[Edited by DG on Apr 1st, 2005 at 11:40 PM]

I like when they decide on the 4th warm up to throw to 3rd, expecting to go to 2nd on the 5th warm up.. I tell them time to play ball. Sometimes the look is priceless.

I also had a high school catcher that tried to tell me the "check swing rule" in that it is if he made an attempt. He also preceeded to lead off that inning. I looked over at the 1b coach who heard the catcher "setting us straight on the rule" and told him what he thought the look would be like if I rang him up for the slightest little flinch of the bat on a check swing. He laughed and said he would pay money to see that one.

Seven?

Thank You.
I thought it was me at first.
Isn't it 5 pitches or one minute between innings?
Should it ever have gotten to 7 pitches?
The point is, don't let them have any more than the prescribed amount of warm-up " pitches "
Those are for the pitcher to warm up his arm, not the coach or the catcher. When the catcher returns ( if the coach is warming up the pitcher ), it's " play ball " time .
My perspective only.

UH OH . . . .
Just reread the post.
They were changing pitchers.
Seventh pitch was OK.
My Bad. Sorry.
However, the rest of my post was still right on in my book.
Only prescribed amount of pitches regardless who is catching them.

[Edited by officialtony on Apr 2nd, 2005 at 01:04 PM]

tip from an NCAA buddy
 

Over a pitcher of suds the other day, a couple of us HS guys were talking with a buddy that calls NCAA ball. He enforces the pitch limit like this...

F2 is 3rd out of a 1/2 inning. Back-up catcher comes out and takes warm-up pitches from the pitcher. After the 4th pitch, PU says, "save the last one for your catcher, go to the dugout."

My buddy said, that NCAA coaches, players and catchers are conditioned to that way of thinking.

My partner and I decide to give it a shot at the next game. F2 makes the 3rd out and is lolly-gagging in the dugout. Sure enough, back-up catcher comes out and takes 4 pitches. "Hey bud, save the last pitch for your catcher." A confused look hit his face and then a light-bulb goes off. He gets up and starts hollerin' at the catcher, hurry up and get up here, we are waitin' on you. Coach jumps in catcher's butt, catcher gets going. No more drag-butt from either team between innings...even in the JV game.

Great idea.
I like it and will use it.
Thanks.

7 pitches
 

A new pitcher gets 8 warm ups not 7, between innings a pitcher gets 5. I've had coaches come out to talk to the pitcher and bring a ball with them to give to another player to throw. I make them get the ball off of my field immediately. I will not have a bull pen going on my field.

stanump 12474
I didn't see anyone make reference to only 7 pitches for a new pitcher to warmup. Did I miss something? I think we were all pretty clear it was 5 between innings and 8 for new pitcher.
I agree that there should be no other baseballs on the field during a pitching conference. However, there also has been some discussion about calling a high school or city baseball field " our " field. It really doesn't belong to us. We can regulate what happens on any baseball field to which we are assigned, but I recommend not calling it " my " field.
Just my opinion.

Where do we agree about no other baseballs on the field during a pitching conference? Cite a rule please.

DG
I didn't say " we " agree. I did say " I " agree about no other baseballs on the field during a conference - meaning I agreed with stanump 12474 about that situation. I learned not to speak for anyone but myself on these forums.
I do not know of any FED Rule that specifically does or does not cover that. I do know that I do not want baseballs being thrown around while there are additional personnel moving around on the field for any reason. Consider it my effort at safety for myself as well as others on the field.
If there is no FED rule covering this situation, I would enforce it with 10-2-3g if Luke will allow me to do that ( or not ).

DG
 

The rule is the one that says anything not specifically covered bt these rules is left to the discretion of the umpire.

stanump12474
Again, I agree with you.
See previous reply.
10-2-3g is my reference for my decision to not have additional baseballs on the field during Defensive conferences - pitching or otherwise.

So you and stanump are going the 9.01C/10-2-g route on this? I would consider this OOO as I don't see anything unsafe about 1B and 2B playing catch. Unusual yes, unsafe no. Who is Luke?

Any rationale behind this?