Gerry Davis good with ASA/USA?
 

Is the modified mechanic with hands on knees yet still in the slot, "approved" as acceptable plate stance. Tried this last week and it was SO comfortable on old knees and I felt a great lockup. I notice a lot of the NCAA umpires using this.

From the July 2016 "Plays and Clarifications" on the USA website:


July 2016 Plays and Clarifications
JULY 17, 2016, 10 P.M. (ET)

Mechanic Issues: Plate Mechanics

As we prepare for the 2016 National Championship season it is imperative that we review several areas of our plate mechanics that have caused concern around the nation.

The first topic we would like to discuss is placing your hands on your knees as a locking mechanism for your body. We have always taught that having your hands in front of your body in a comfortable positon is the desired mechanic. However, some umpires prefer to place their hands on their knees to lock themselves in their plate stance. Steadying yourself by placing your hands on your knees is acceptable as long as three things happen. First, you must go to the set position at the top of the strike zone prior to placing your hands on your knees. Second, you should not be resting your weight on your knees. Third, you should not be locked into this position waiting for the pitcher to perform their preliminaries and start the pitch; but instead, as mentioned above, you should wait to place your hands on your knees as you reach the set position. Remember the modified Jerry Davis stance, where an umpire locks their hands on their knees as the pitcher receives the ball and remains in this position for the entire pitch is not acceptable in ASA/USA Softball.

Thank you.

you get micromanaged to this degree?!? uh.....ok

I have yet to see where "an umpire locks their hands on their knees as the pitcher receives the ball and remains in this position for the entire pitch". I tried a few sets per the ASA instructions and it is VERY awkward. Guess that's how they get you not to do it.

It is what it is. ;)

I started using the modified Jerry Davis this year and college softball. I have been having a problem of flinching on the inside pitch. I found that this new stance helped to correct the problem of flinching. And I also found it very comfortable. With the USA season coming up I'm debating on whether to go back to the normal heel-toe stance.

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I find that I am extremely comfortable using every part of the spread heel-toe, with head at top of the zone, and nose on the batter's box line (places ear on the black), looking across the zone past the catcher, but adding the locked hands on knees. I don't drop to that set until the pitcher brings her hands together.

No flinching, head doesn't move, really helps track the ball all the way to the glove, takes the pressure off my legs and back. If it adds .0001 seconds to my first movement from that spot because I was locked, I'm happy with that trade-off.

Whichever part ANY sanction has issue with, well, I believe we are in a results-first business.

Things are weird all over...

Scrounge, I'm sure that you are familiar with the Central Ohio Baseball Umpires Association. :)

Back around 2004 I had started using the Gerry Davis stance. About that same time I was scheduled for an on-field evaluation by one of the senior umpires for that group (who I believe is still with the group).

On my evaluation I was dinged for "putting my hands on my knees" and told that a plate umpire should NEVER do that. I was using the stance exactly as it's described, working a little bit higher and a little bit farther back and I got dinged for "being too high and too far back" too.

We can get goofy advice from a variety of sources!

Heh...yes, I'm fairly connected in that group :) You were a trailblazer - heck, most of the senior guys use it now.

I can't get over the fact they can't spell Gerry. The guy's been an MLB umpire forever and sells equipment, too.

Strictly personal, but been there, done that.

When I first moved away from the balloon (1967), my stance was similar to what is now claimed as the GD stance which really isn't anything new.

To start, the stance many use in today's version provides less protection to your quads. AFA the hands, have you ever caught a foul ball on the hand when it is not on your knees or leg? When I was young, I got away from placing my hands above my knees simply because it gives them no place to go if hit. IOW, your hand is between the ball and a hard place. Okay, so it isn't that hard, but it is not as forgiving as I would like if being struck by a hard object.

I also found myself locking into a position. I see it now with some umpires using their knees for support. Yes, it can be comfortable, but I've seen comfort placed over positioning. Watch some of the youth ball on TV this summer and see how many umpires using the GD can/will drop to the top of the zone.

Like I said, strictly personal preference based upon years of different experiences

Well, apparently in some parts of this country, Gerry with a G is considered as the feminine alternative to Jerry with a J, or so I was informed.

Or, maybe it is to avoid infringing... Gerry Davis®

:)

On a side note.
 

Junior and I went to a ASA (now USA Softball) weekend school a few years back to be qualified for National Tournaments (we went for Mark's sake not mine). Naturally as baseball umpires who also umpire softball (and I will add that when we are umpiring softball we do it the softball way and not the baseball way) were dinged because we tracked the ball from the pitcher to the catcher without moving our head. When the school was over, one of the evaluators came over to us and said not to worry about the eyes only as opposed to head only movement. All he cared about was did the PU get the pitch correct. Go figure!

MTD, Sr.

Perhaps. But it IS the way he spells his name. If anyone should know how to spell it correctly, I would expect the staff at NUS to know.

I do have a question about the modified GD, however. When I worked baseball, the GD was introduced in camps and clinics I attended, and required us to square up in the slot but higher and further back than you would for the heel-toe stance. What actually is different under the "modified" version? I've been told it was just that the feet are back to being heel-toe instead of square, but is there more to it?

Also, don't you have to adjust the width of your feet to adjust to the top of each batter's strike zone? It seems counterintuitive to have to spread your feet wider for those shorter batters; your using different widths for different batters. I prefer to always have my feet the same width apart, and then just sit down lower for those shorter players.