Something to discuss
 

I try to give my fellow blues the benefit of the doubt, so this is what I see.

Batter crowding the plate, catcher setting up inside. PU has no view of the corner, so he moves to where he can see.

Hopefully, that is what I see with my rose colored glasses. Or perhaps he is hiding behind the catcher because he has a pacemaker and doesn't want to get hit in the chest.

Here's what I see
 

.....STRIKE..... :D

A pitcher with ballet training. :)

Are you talking about the pitcher's stride foot possibly being outside her lane?

A field that has a slight pitch;

A pitcher who could have been outside of the H on delivery;

A catcher who obviously isn't capable of moving the arm attached to the hand with which she catches the ball;

An umpire who adjusted to the right instead of up, though up doesn't seem to give him any better a look that what he has. Probably using the Gerry Davis stance. . . .just kidding!

Is the bat legal?

The angle is odd too... where is 2nd base? Why is there an outfielder (and which is it) in the picture.

Same game, same PU,

Same batter, earlier pitch

Same batter, another earlier pitch

Other team's pitcher / catcher

This is my first post on this site although I have been sitting off to the side for about the last three years.
Getting back to the question at hand. Look's to me that the pitcher is out of her chute trying to hit the front inside corner of the plate. I don't think she is going to get that call from where the plate ump is positioned.

Paul

What do I see???

This:

:D

Tom,

Thanks for saving the rest of us the time.

I think it is obvious the issue here is the umpire. He seems to set up in the same place for every batter and it doesn't seem to be in the slot.

This umpire has to be missing a lot of pitches.

Unless I am mistaken, this is from a high level Div I NCAA tournament. Aren't the two teams Oklahoma versus Cal State Northridge at the Judy Garmen Classic?

I suspect we are looking at cases of camera angles being deceptive.

Nope. Camera angle/depth of field would compact/distort distance between umpire/catcher and catcher/batter, but not height or lack thereof

I don't get the comment about the Gerry Davis stance, I assume that's an inside joke, however, he is not using the Gerry Davis stance, or at least not close to be being right.

The idea behind the Davis stance is to slide back, this umpire appears to be too close and also too low, if he was working higher, there's a better chance of seeing some of those pitches.

A lot of people especially in softball don't do the stance right, it is very easy to learn and whole lot easier to work.

I got marked down at the world series for it last year simply because the evaluators thought it was a "baseball" stance, which is too bad because before the tournament, they told everyone to go with what got them there, for me, that's the Davis stance.

I personally use it at all levels of softball and baseball, and, I'd encourage everyone to use it.

AP

It's not an "everyone" stance. Some people can use it well obviously. Most cannot. I've tried both and prefer the slot. The slot is obviously a better position for calling the game for most - or more professional level umpires would use Gerry Davis over the slot.

I would agree that ASA is a little anal about certain things like insisting on certain stances. I can understand enforcing the same mechanics on calls for uniformity sake or teaching the slot as a matter of course.. Someone working a different stance behind the catcher would not affect the way two umpires would work together (even if they came from 5000 miles away from each other). If someone prefers the Gerry Davis stance and works it well, it should not count against that umpire.

-- as to the op pic, I see an umpire with poor behind the plate mechanics who is neither using the Gerry Davis or slot.. just piss poor mechanics. In the 1st pic I can let him slide because its possible he was being crowded out. The 2nd pic seals the deal. There was plenty of room for a slot.

But who knows.. pics can be deceiving, but thats what I see.