2-Man to 3 or 4-Man?

[dash_riprock]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

Don't do it until AFTER you have had training, including classroom, some time on a field, and maybe even a "practice" game. Otherwise, you'll end up with no umpires making a call, two umpires making a call, umpires not watching the play because they are wondering what their partners are doing / wondering what they should be doing, etc.

Great advice. My first 3-man experience was a clinic that included a day of classroom instruction, 2 full days of field drills then 9 eval games in 3 days. DI guys with a ton of CWS & regional experience nit-picked us without mercy. I never felt so clueless. I started to feel comfortable with 3-man during the 9th game.

You need a very sound understanding in 2-man before taking on 3-man. The same rotations apply in 3-man (plus a few others) as well as some reverse rotations. If you do 3-man for the playoffs and you have a weak link, put him behind the plate and push him on the rotations. He will do the least damage there.

As far as 3-man vs. 4-man, I think 3-man is better. It's about boxing in the runners rather than an umpire at every base. Done properly, 3-man is a thing of beauty.