Positioning on throw home

[kraine27]

I attended the NCAA meetings for the first time this past spring and was in attandance of a class taught by Dave Yeast on taking plays at the plate.

NCAA is wanting the umpires to take an initial position at the point of the plate extended and then adjust to the play. In the situation outlined above, two of the more posssible plays that could happen with a throw coming from F8 would be a swipe tag or a play where the catcher may have to dive. I would have taken the third base line extended as well. With that said, Yeast did say that if you were to draw 3rd base extended and 1st base extended and take the "cone" area between those lines, that any place in that "cone" would be an acceptable position to make that call. So, I would not totally discount a 1st base line extended view of this play.

[RPatrino]

I'm with Garth on this one, the description of the play in the OP implied that the PU was in 3BLX, however when he said "The catcher's body was completely in the way of his line of sight". That implied to me that the PU was in 1BLX. Unless the PU was in 3BLX and was looking at the catcher's back, which I find hard to believe.

[DonInKansas]

Gerry Davis was looking at the catcher's back.

Video: (Play's about halfway in)
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270701101

[prosec34]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

I'm with Garth on this one, the description of the play in the OP implied that the PU was in 3BLX, however when he said "The catcher's body was completely in the way of his line of sight". That implied to me that the PU was in 1BLX. Unless the PU was in 3BLX and was looking at the catcher's back, which I find hard to believe.

You know, the object of this thread isn't to parse and dissect my question as much as it's to answer the question. I think I corrected any confusion in my later post.

I'm simply seeking guidance from more experienced and trained umpires since I get so little of that in my association.

As far as using the 1BLX angle to see the swipe tag, it seems you can be just as effective from the 3BLX spot while still not blocking yourself out on the play made in the Angels-Os game.

[RPatrino]

Don, thanks for providing the video clip, it does show GD in 3blx, and possibly getting straight lined on the play.

Prosec, I apologize if I seemed to parse your post. It is important to understand the situation, in order to answer your specific question. Bob Jenkins answered your question.

What this situation clearly illustrates is that regardless of which plate position you decide to use on a particular play, you MUST be willing to adjust that position to avoid being blocked by the catcher or the runner.

[fitump56]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

Don, thanks for providing the video clip, it does show GD in 3blx, and possibly getting straight lined on the play.

So much for previous threads where it was said by the most preeiminet posters on ths Forum, " Good and well trained umpires NEVER get straightlined".

Of which, I totally disagreed. Davis should turn his paycheck back in and quit, I suppose.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by fitump56

So much for previous threads where it was said by the most preeiminet posters on ths Forum, " Good and well trained umpires NEVER get straightlined".

Of which, I totally disagreed. Davis should turn his paycheck back in and quit, I suppose.

And of course, you as usual took the comments out of context.

In the previous thread we were all discussing infield positioning for the BU on plays at first, in which there is no excuse to get "straight-lined."

In the case which we are discussing currently, we are talking about the PU in 3BLX, where it is extremely possible to get "straight-lined."

[fitump56]

Originally Posted by fitump56
So much for previous threads where it was said by the most preeiminet posters on ths Forum, " Good and well trained umpires NEVER get straightlined".

Of which, I totally disagreed. Davis should turn his paycheck back in and quit, I suppose.

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

And of course, you as usual took the comments out of context.

"As usual" , please cite.

In the previous thread we were all discussing infield positioning for the BU on plays at first, in which there is no excuse to get "straight-lined."

Of which I commented that "no excuse" is living in a world that does not exist. There are certainly times when one can get SLined as BU in this situation. As I also said, anyone who says they never have, unless they are noobs or only PUs, are lying. it's a fantasy to puff out your chest and claim to everyone, "Me to I NEVER EVER..., we are all so smart, aren't we?". Pure fantasy.

Some live on that false sense of perfection, others, like me, choose to live in reality.