Strike Mechanic

[Buckeye12]

I was just video taped working the dish at a clinic and was very surprised how quick my call was. I thought that my timing was pretty good, but this was an excellent tool for me to actually see and hear myslef. At first, during instruction from veteran umpires, before I wathced the tape, I felt like I was over exaggerating slowing down my timing, but the tape revealed that I still could have paused slightly longer before making my call. My biggest problem was rushing my call on a called third strike. I not only made my decision too quick, I rushed my call and my "ring-em-up" mechanic. In the future, I hope to have myslef video taped on occasion. I learned a great deal from watching myslef and would recommend it to everyone.

[BJ Moose]

Originally posted by TwoBits
Well, I'm going to continue with what works. I'm sure my association will as well.

I can't NOT look. Jeez, is this person saying that they are part of an actual baseball umpire association that TEACHES no voice on balls?? So in other words not ONE person from this "association" has ever been to ANY semblence of professional instruction?

Why do I see base umpires with clickers firmly in palms??

Bad, Mike! Bad! I gotta go do a low level JV game now.

[NJumpire9]

I've worked a number of clinics with Matt Hollowell (MLB/AAA) Justin Klem (AAA) and WebbTurner (AAA).
They ALL emphasize...SLOW DOWN! IT"S NOTHING UNTIL YOU CALL IT!..I read in an earlier post about some who made up their mind on a pitch BEFORE it crosses the plate. What looks good 2 feet in front , may look like crap by the time it's caught! Most important is to lock in and FOLLOW PITCH with just your eyes all the way to the glove. That means NO head movement, NO body lean, NOTHING..JUST EYES.
The obvious..stay down to call balls, ( and one DOES call them ) and up and out stong on your strikes has already been stated. The Fist is used in the "newer" mechanic ala FRANK PULLI, with a front facing "tommahawk
chop". The pointer is used for those of us still coming out to the side and voice and mechanic happen simultaneously...The strike three mechanic should be different than your others.

[Edited by NJumpire9 on Mar 13th, 2003 at 02:30 PM]

[Alligator Bag]

I should have taken more time and been more specific concerning my comments on strikes and balls. No, I don't announce swinging strikes, only signal. The statement balls and strikes same voice should have read that the tone of voice should be same throughout the game for ball in first inning and ball in ninth inning. As for strike, I don't know percentages too well, but my strike is at LEAST 20% louder than ball, but same in first inning as last. Sorry for any confusion and thanks for not reading TOO much into the original post.

[Jerry]

Thanks for the clarification, 'Gator. From reading all of the posts, it seems there's quite a bit of consensus on the techniques for calling "balls" and "strikes". As with many things in our business, we learn from experience (our own and others) . . . as well as from mistakes (mostly our own!) . . . and adjust our techniques accordingly.