R2 and R3 - Deep C and usually a step toward second base because F6 plays where you would normally be.

R1, R2, R3 - Deep B and usually a step toward second base there as well. In this situation you have time to get into the working area if you have a double play at home then at first.

That's not what caught my eye.

In the 15 years I've been acquainted with Evans' teachings and that of his instructors, I have never heard him refer to PU positioning with the amateur terms of "A, B, C, D, E, etc.", except in explaining that he doesn't use those terms. His recent manual does not use that nomenclature and recent grads say he never used it at school this year.

So when you said that Evans refered to a position as "D", I was surprised, to say the least.

I find this to be one of Evans' qualities I like least. If he didn't "invent" it, he acts like it doesn't exist. Listening him describe the B position and subsequently use that description instead of then saying "the B position" is silly.

This isn't an "Evans quality" and it has nothing to do with him not "inventing it."This is a pro thing. PBUC doesn't use A, B, C, D, and pro umpires don't use it.

One explanation I got from an instructor is that they feel labelling a position as the amateurs do tends to lead to umpires establishing fixed spots for each position, regardless of situations or player tendencies.

well, all i will say is that while he doesn't describe A,B,C,D etc...the way we think of them, I have his two umpire manual and he describes it as the area behind the working area or "the library" I know we're not really arguing whether or not it's in there...heck, I'll take a picture of the diagram and put it on here...well maybe not that due to respecting his copyright...but imagine a rectangle drawn behind the mound which defines the borders of the working area or "library" then behind that, in rectangular format, the letters a,b,c,d describing how and how not BU is to be positioned when umpiring certain types of plays.

You'd think pros would recognize most that it's just a starting spot. What do I know, though -- I'm just a little ole' umpire of amateur baseball.

I do have Evans manual and it is excellent.

Nobody is arguing about where he suggests that BU positions himself. Most of us also have the manual and many of us have gone to his clinics or school.

We are just expressing surprise at your statement: "Evans calls it "D"" (Which I see you have now changed to "Evans calls it "A"), since Evans has never before used any letter designation,

They are not pros when they first learn this.

I agree. The manual is excellent and worth every penny.

Fair enough.

sounds good Mr. Umpire...thanks for the discussion