"Ball...inside."
 

Has something changed? I was always told the call is "Ball!" or "Strike!" never "Ball...inside," or "Strike...corner!" Yet, these CWS umpires who are wired are constantly expounding on the location of the pitch. What gives?

I don't even call out "ball". If its a strike, I'll stand upright and hammer a strike, and announce the count. If its a ball...I stay set and quite and I'll give the batter and catcher the count and its play on. :)

BktBallRef,

You may want to peruse the recent discussion on your question in the thread linked below:

http://forum.officiating.com/showthread.php?t=27059

Personally, I found it both surprising and illuminating.

JM

Call balls balls. Big saying of a clinician I trust. Verbalize balls, maybe not where they are. But say ball. Otherwise you're not calling anything.

Agreed, you should always call something. As the immortal Bill Klem said, "it ain't nothin' till I call it."

Call 'ball' it helps your timing
 

For the reasons listed by SDSteve, you should be verbalizing "ball."

Also, one of the most difficult aspects of officiating is timing. IMO calling every pitch will help keep your timing consistant.

I agree with the above...however, it's not necessary to show the count after every pitch or even say the count after every pitch...though sometimes when you have an electronic scoreboard that posts the wrong count more than 3 million times a game, it may be necessary to do, so you don't confuse yourself! :-)

Say the count once 3 pitches have been thrown. Thats my rule. Especially with no scoreboard. There you may even want to do it after 2.

I say/signal the count on the even pitches (1-1 or 2-0/0-2, then 3-1 or 2-2 ect), then full count if necessary. I rarely have a coach ask for count, keeps the batter, catcher in the game, and if a strike/ball call is not to coachs/fans liking, they are briefly complaining when Im calling the count ("Ah come on, blue!")- kinda cancells out the complaint...Move on...