And back to the wording of the rules. Both FED and ASA rules on ball rotation say the pitcher has the choice of balls at the beggining of each inning, unless the ball did not go out of play in the top of the 1st inning, and then the pitcher must throw the unused ball. Once they have thrown the ball, that is the ball that must be used until it goes out of play or becomes unplayable for some reason.

Other than getting a new ball into play at the bottom of the 1st, why do we even HAVE a ball rotation procedure? IOW, what purpose does it serve? If avoiding delay is the reason, it is a silly one (IMO), since I am pretty sure most HS-age and lower pitchers have no clue that there even IS a ball rotation procedure, and yet, I am hardly EVER asked to exchange, unless the ball is wet. So, it would amount to avoiding a couple of seconds delay once every blue moon. Hardly worth having a rule over.

And, it is really hard to enforce this rule without appearing to be a hard-*** OOO.

I find it fairly common, especially in tournaments where each team provides a ball, that the balls are dissimilar, and pitchers create a strong preference for one ball over the other. The Dudley Heat with its high seams is one people love or hate. Or one team will throw in a ball that is older and slicker, so the pitchers don't like it.

Swapping out when you have other balls available isn't a big issue of time or delay. But when partners have allowed pitchers their choice, and the ball they want is fouled out of play, then I have seen multiple instances of delay because the pitcher wants "her" ball back. And it becomes a bigger issue to refuse to wait when you have been swapping on request all game long than it is to establish you are following the ball rotation in the rules.

That said, when warming up a pitcher, if a ball goes back to the screen, I give my catcher a replacement ball, so we keep the one minute between innings as their warmup time, and not lose a pitch chasing a ball. If it is the nonpreferred ball, we can switch it back before the inning starts. But not during the inning; I follow the ball rotation rule, unless ball is wet, period.

I dont disagree it isnt that big a deal, but, it gets you into a habit that is likely to be frowned upon at Nationals. I got talked to about not making all balls hit out of play come back through me. Its just a habit you get into to keep games moving, ball goes out, no more in bag, hurry up and get it back to the pitcher and lets play. But then you get a national assignment and they want the letter of the rule book followed.

I touch the ball at the change (if necessary) at the bottom of the 1st, when a ball leaves play, when asked for a different ball at the top of any half of inning and when asked to inspect a ball for damage. As the base umpire, I ONLY touch the ball unless we are between innings and a fan throws one back onto the field.

The ball that goes in the game is the one that comes out of the bag, period! Not open to debate.

Catcher misses a ball, the catcher or teammate can go get it.

xtreamump
 

I was at the ASA Eastern National 12U-B Championship's last year and there were only about 10 Umpires that could stand up straight. And you want them to get the correct ball in the game. lol. York, Pa. It was hot, there were old Ump's falling out everywhere.

And they are violating the rule....

Glad I'm not old, I might be offended.

Holy thread necromancy.

It's "The Walking Thread".

:) :D :eek: