Rating Systems?

[David B]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

A question for those of you who do HS baseball in states where the coaches rate you.

In the state I work in, this year they started a new rating system where coaches rate your work. They also have catagories where you supposedly "need improvement". These ratings are a joke. The catagory ratings are even more of a joke.

How much stock do you put into these ratings and catagories? For example, the number of people who said I need to imporove rules knowledge (or words to that effect, I don't want to be too specific to give the state away) exactly equals the number of games that I called a balk in. I also happen to be a local rules interpreter for my local association, so I know the rules. I guess where I live, if you call a balk, you don't know the rules. The only other time I had a coach say anything to me about a call all year was when some guys didn't think I called the HPB rule right (Come on blue, he's got to get out of the way, he's gotta make an attempt, you know the conversation well enough I don't need to repeat it all for you).

Another rating was for "umpire professionalism". What in the world does that mean in this context?

One one hand, I'm upset at some of the ratings I see. On the other hand, I shake my head in wonder and laugh it off. People who have no clue about mechanics, or even where to stand between innings rate mechanics. Right. It just seems as if you make a call they don't like, they sitck it to you. I've been doing baseball games for a long time, I pride myself on how I carry myself on and off the field and knowledge of the rules. I make mistakes like everyone else, but some of these ratings are nuts.

I would give my left arm to have a guy who knows what he's doing come out and evaluate me. I would be glad to pay someone who knew how to umpire to evaluate me, since that will help me get better. All these ratings and catagories do is give you a bad reputation when it comes time for tournament assignments.

How do you guys feel about these things in your state?

Our state has been rating the umpires for about three years now and its rediculous.

The coaches are supposed to be "required" to submit it by the state, but in basketball about half of my games were rated and in baseball only about 10%.

If they are going to let the coaches rate us, then we should have to rate the coaches also. Did they control their team, sportsmanship, facilities, security, administration present, etc.,

The sad thing is that most of the losing coaches will turn in the ratings. I laugh because one of the areas is "rules knowledge" and I always get rated less on that area which I would consider my highest.

Last season, we had a "no call" on a fly ball down the first base line. The runner ran to first, and the F1 and F2 came out to get the catch. It was in foul territory and ended up being a drop.

The coach of course said the runner interfered. There was no interference.
Later on my rating coach writes, "umpire definitely doesnt' understand interference"

So basically its all subjective and coaches can say whatever they want no matter how wrong they are.

The state uses the ratings for basketball playoff assignments, but baseball does not.

Thansk
David

[C'monBlue]

In this state, coaches rate umpires on the following criteria:

10% Appearance/Physical
10% Pre-Game
20% Attitude/Temperament
20% Rules Knowledge
20% Mechanics
20% Game/Field Presence

What is Pre-Game, you ask? According to the Arbiter, it includes being "On time for pre-game conference. On time (Enters playing area at appropriate time). Performs all assigned duties: inspections."

And miraculously, I have been marked down in this area. How is that even possible?

We are also expected to rate our partners after each game, a practice I find equally distasteful and which I refuse to do. It seems ridiculous for a rookie to be rating someone who has been doing it for 20 years. (Of course, there are those Smitties who have one year experience twenty times, but ratings would be wasted on them anyway.) Shouldn't these conversations happen in the post-game?

It would be interesting to come up with a system for rating coaches:

20% Attitude
20% Sportsmanship
20% Pulled the pitcher before giving up a grand slam
20% Chose a shortstop who could field a ball cleanly
20% Selected a line-up of players who swing at corner pitches

Have I missed anything?