How long to wait to make call

[SanDiegoSteve]

My rule of thumb on routine out calls is to wait until I'm sure that F3 (or whoever) is touching the base and has complete control of the ball. At that point, the runner is generally pretty close to passing my position as he is well past the base. I never use any arbitrary, "one Mississippi" or any such artificial method.

This gives me the same timing on bangers. As soon as I determine that there is control of the baseball at the same time the base is touched (on force plays), that's when I make the call. Again, no artificially timing the call.

On bang-gang tag plays, the same principle applies. Wait until there is no possibility that the ball can come flying out of the glove, then make the call.