Strike/out signal

[Rich]

Originally Posted by bniu

you may want to try this, i find it works really really well and i wish softball would get off their high pedestal and take a look at it too:

For called strikes 1 and 2 as well as check swing strikes, continue to hammer as usual (i use this as a "sell" strike signal)
called strike 3, whatever fancy thing you can come up with.

for swinging strikes 1 and 2, point to the side, right side for right handed batters, left side for lefty hitters. make sure nothing's happening on the bases when you turn.

in either case, if there's a runner stealing, just extend your right arm to the side while facing the pitcher so you can get into position wherever you need to be.

for swinging strike 3, if you have a D3K, yell out 'no catch' and give the safe signal while things go down. Otherwise, i like to pause for a while, let the batter leave the circle, and casually hammer to signal the out.

a lot of MLB umps have gone to the hammer for called strikes but still retain the point for swinging strikes. I like it too since I find turning to the side on called strikes to be a P.I.T.A. whereas i'm way more relaxed on swinging strikes and can more easily turn to the side there...


and btw, can someone explain why you never see any baseball umpire manual that says to point to the side for a strike? I think in the old days, all strikes were hammers as well and umps made calls really really fast until Doug Harvey came around and got them all to slow down their calls...

I don't think it matters an iota how you call strikes, provided your timing is good enough to know that something odd isn't going to happen when you turn your head to the side.

For most young umpires, this is a problem. I find it useful to teach the hammer to young umpires for this reason. As they get experience and develop solid timing and awareness, then they can feel free to do whatever they want.