Interesting Observations at MLB game

[BretMan]

Tim is a central Ohio boy, and he came up through the ranks in the same baseball umpire association to which I belong. He still takes the time to address our group each year, before he heads down to spring training, and two weeks ago organized and ran a plate mechanics clinic right here in Columbus, with proceeds going to a local charity. So I'm cutting him some slack on his positioning!

I see this a lot in MLB- plate umpires positioning themselves inside the diamond on plays at the plate. I guess it could work, depending on where the throw was coming from or where you happened to be standing and needed to adjust to see the play. But it certainly isn't what has been taught to me in my ASA training clinics!

The odd positioning of the base umpires I've never noticed before- I'll have to watch for that. I've been watching a couple of games on cable tonight and those guys seem to be setting up in the conventional wide stance, hands on knees, facing the plate stances.