Ball Rotation
 

NFHS. Regarding ball rotation. Is it inappropriate if an umpire chooses to give another ball to the catcher between innings when a ball gets by the catcher warming up the pitcher. I do this in baseball to keep things going between innings. I was told by a fellow umpire that I shouldn't give the catcher another ball because the pitcher must keep throwing the same ball. After reading the ball rotation rule (Rule 6, sect 5) I don't see anything that says an umpire cannot do what I did. Thanks for your responses.

Other than if you are in the bottom half of the first inning and the original ball never went out of play. The pitcher must then throw the unused ball, if you are switching out balls with the catcher then the pitcher would not be throwing the unused ball.

xtreamump
 

What would the penalty be ???

50 lashes to the umpire for switching the ball? The pitcher didnt do anything wrong, if the umpire switched out the ball the rules say she was suppose to throw it is the umpire who is circumventing the rule.

50? Are you sure? Where is that in the book? Why wouldn't there be an exception to the rule if it were what they wanted? Is there a case play I can ignore?

Sincerely,

Anti-clone

I see nothing wrong with it either. I do it all the time although it has never happened in the bottom of the 1st. I will certainly remember if it does cause I do not want to get 50 lashes. I wear two ball bags and have 5 balls if possible to start the game as I do not want to delay the game waiting for a game ball. The only time I would worry about ball rotation is at a national tournament.

I'm not sure what you are driving at here with the "anti-clone."
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RULE BOOK - RULE BOOK - RULE BOOK
If it's in the rule book, then we enforce it.

You can only ignore the rules you don't really know or when you learn them and don't like them.

MickMob

Then you aren't very bright are you?

What happened to the "Don't quote the trolls" rule?

:D Rules are for clones. :D

Just felt like the right time for some Alice Cooper.

And here I heard school's out for the summer, or is that forever? :rolleyes:

Only if you're Eighteen.

But then you have to be his frankenstein.

Welcome to my Nightmare.

Settle down, everybody, or the mods will say No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Well everyone quoting Alice cooper songs but skipping over probably the most obvious. But I'm not going to be the one to post it.

Frankenstein is Edgar Winter!

Well that fits too, but the song Im thinking of is definitely Alice Cooper.

Billion dollar babies, in reference to our coaches?

Edgar Winter - Frankenstein
Alice Cooper - Feed My Frankenstein

FIVE balls to start a H.S. game!! WOW!! Here in Buckeye land we normally start with two balls and consider the home school is going big time if we start with three.

MTD, Sr.

Funny. Irishmafia attempts to make a jab, completely unprovoked. I respond and you have a problem with me. If I had made the original comment (like on another thread), you'd be all over me.

Inconsistent hypocrites.

Psst.... I think Irishmafia was making an attempt at humor.:D

The title track from his 1991 album, perhaps?

You wouldn't be thinking back to 1980 would you??? Maybe "Clones (We're all)"?????

Probably not, since that's the song I started all this junk with.

Bingo

back to swapping balls -- many, maybe most partners I've worked with recently will throw the pitcher a new ball if she asks for one ....

NCAA influence, lack of understanding, or lack of caring?

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: