MLB Pitching Regulations

[JR12]

I guess I can see that, or hard dirt might cause a scuff, just saying you didn't see so many balls discarded years ago.

[Kevin Finnerty]

When I teach pitching, I teach pitchers how to hold the ball to take the best advantage of a cut, a scuff or some mud packed in a seam, if the umpire doesn't discard it. If the ball isn't discarded, then a pitcher with savvy should know how to use it. And at the developmental level, we all know that the ball is not discarded often enough.

As an umpire, I'll let a minor scuff stay in, but not a cut or a torn seam. A cut or a fray will make the ball do more tricks than a scuff. I also check any ball that hits anything, except soft dirt. So I guess that's my H.S./J.C. standard.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Originally Posted by JR12

I guess I can see that, or hard dirt might cause a scuff, just saying you didn't see so many balls discarded years ago.

Can't remember when they first brought this in , but it has the composition akin to kitty litter. Cuts the baseball up pretty good. Seems to me Dodger stadium had this first, by the frequency of balls they threw out years ago...

[kylejt]

It's a function of how many baseballs you have available to you, isn't it?

[TussAgee11]

Originally Posted by kylejt

It's a function of how many baseballs you have available to you, isn't it?

It sure is, but from what I have seen in the last soon to be 5 years of umpiring is that we, as a whole, do not throw the ball out enough at the amateur level.

A lot of this has to do with whiney coaches. I throw the ball out more than the majority of my partners have, and often times coaches are even puzzled by it. Even at a Sr. Babe level, coaches are perplexed as to why a ball is unfit.

At the Legion level (akin to JV or V), the coaches are baseball people, and complain if you give their pitcher a bad ball, or the other pitcher a good ball. It is really incredible the amount of complaining I've had over this issue. I'm sure if I kept every ball in my bag and never inspected them, it wouldn't be an issue. But because I take 2 seconds when I get a ball back to give it a glance and toss a ball into the home dugout every 2 or 3 innings (depending on the level), it is an issue to them.

Lastly, does anyone else hate hearing at the plate meeting "Here are 6 balls and my pitcher has one too." Every single game that first warm-up that comes in, I flip him a ball and take the one that I haven't seen.

Am I making to big of a deal about this? When I do this, I try my damnest not to be OOO, but when nobody else in our association does it, it makes me look like an OOO I guess.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

Lastly, does anyone else hate hearing at the plate meeting "Here are 6 balls and my pitcher has one too." Every single game that first warm-up that comes in, I flip him a ball and take the one that I haven't seen.

I do the same thing. I don't know what's been done to that ball. I look at the ball, and if it's a good one, I get it back to the pitcher at the first ball replacement opportunity. But we start with a pearl.

[tballump]

Keep checking. You can check immediately as he is going to the mound or you can check after 3 or 4 warm-ups while you are checking out his pitches. If the ball is OK let him use it. You are just checking to make sure it is not a new ball that got all scuffed up while he was warming up in the bullpen.

I would assume at the amateur level, cost is the reason they hate to see the baseballs removed from play. I'm not saying that is good reason not to toss a few every game, but to be as thorough as MLB may not quite be the way to go unless you are doing D1.

In the old days, the umpires themselves rubbed up the baseballs (5-6 dozen) to take that slippery shine off the ball. Each ump had their own way of rubbing up the baseballs. Some spit on the dirt in their hand and some poured water in the can of dirt. I imagine some of the baseball's had some good chewing tobacco mixed in.

Today, the baseball's are rubbed up by the clubbies, and may not be done very well and get thrown out. But, the majority of the time, there is probably some type of scuff mark.

Calvin Griffith is the one that had the rule put in, to limit the distance pine tar could be applied to the bat. He whined that pine tar was costing him an extra $500 a year, because the umps would throw a foul tipped pine tar scuffed ball out.

[JR12]

Originally Posted by tballump

Keep checking. You can check immediately as he is going to the mound or you can check after 3 or 4 warm-ups while you are checking out his pitches. If the ball is OK let him use it. You are just checking to make sure it is not a new ball that got all scuffed up while he was warming up in the bullpen.

I would assume at the amateur level, cost is the reason they hate to see the baseballs removed from play. I'm not saying that is good reason not to toss a few every game, but to be as thorough as MLB may not quite be the way to go unless you are doing D1.

In the old days, the umpires themselves rubbed up the baseballs (5-6 dozen) to take that slippery shine off the ball. Each ump had their own way of rubbing up the baseballs. Some spit on the dirt in their hand and some poured water in the can of dirt. I imagine some of the baseball's had some good chewing tobacco mixed in.

Today, the baseball's are rubbed up by the clubbies, and may not be done very well and get thrown out. But, the majority of the time, there is probably some type of scuff mark.

Calvin Griffith is the one that had the rule put in, to limit the distance pine tar could be applied to the bat. He whined that pine tar was costing him an extra $500 a year, because the umps would throw a foul tipped pine tar scuffed ball out.

Don't they use some special mud from the Delaware river bank???
http://baseballrubbingmud.com/

[Blue37]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

Lastly, does anyone else hate hearing at the plate meeting "Here are 6 balls and my pitcher has one too." Every single game that first warm-up that comes in, I flip him a ball and take the one that I haven't seen.

Around here, we usually get three at the meeting and each pitcher has one. The main problem we have is the visiting pitcher will, for the bottom of the first, either not bring out a ball at all or bring out one that has obviously been used in a previous game. The visiting coaches try to get the new ball in their equipment bag so they can bring it out for their next home game.

I have started getting that ball before the game begins if the pitcher has finished his warm-ups.

[Emperor Ump]

I think a few years ago TWIB did a short piece on spitballs and several MLB guys said there are so very few pitchers who would even know what to do with a spitball or a scuff. Some pitcher mentioned that when he first grabs the ball if it doesn't feel absolutely right, he sends it back because he doesn't know how it will effect his pitches and a ball having spit, a scuff or anything else is probably a dis-advantage to pitchers.

Going to what Kevin said if he can teach a pitcher what to do with a scuff he'd have a huge advantage for most of his career, because all the way up to college baseballs are a valued commodity and you often have to make due with less than perfect.