Granting time to walk the ball to the pitcher

[GA Umpire]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

+1+

I adopted that exact procedure that Tim C. just described during my first season, when this one shortstop called time, trotted toward the pitcher, flipped him the ball and continued running toward his own dugout. Once there, he grabbed a cup of Gatorade, downed it and trotted back to shortstop and thanked me.

I was flabbergasted. I looked at his coach as if to tell him that was really a major stretch, and he looked at me with a million dollar expression on his face, so I knew he'd handle it. He did.

If that happened to me, I'd be tempted to force a substitution if I could get away with it. Or, turn it into a trip to the mound or something. Just to teach a lesson the hard way. I'd even think about an EJ just so he can waste someone else's time. Unbelievable.