Too many pitches

[rwest]

Originally Posted by marvin

I find that automatically limiting the teams to 3 warm-up pitches does not speed things up. I do find that being attentive and enforcing the one minute limit on time does. An automatic limit is contrary to the rules. Why would you want to penalize a team that is hustling and can get five in if they want?

In NFHS the pitcher is allowed to throw more if the plate umpire is being attentive to other umpiring duties.

As a base umpire you probably have bigger problems if your partner is not paying attention between innings. I will call balls in if the plate ump is obviously not taking care of other umpiring duties, but if your partner is a wandering story teller who is at the backstop interacting with the fans, entertaining the crowd, or regaling the coaches with war stories you will have a long game with no rhythm to it no matter what you do.

I am speaking about high school - other rule sets may be different and most tourneys have their own between inning rules, which is fine as long as they are applied consistently.

NFHS:

There is no penalty for excessive warm-ups if the umpire is busy with other duties such as a sub. If you have to hold up the game for other umpire duties there is no reason not to allow the pitcher more pitches. The 5 pitches/one minute rule is there to keep the game moving. If play is delayed for other reasons they can pitch until I'm done with my other duties.