3rd strike dropped mechanic ?

[chuck chopper]

Twice now while watching the NCAA regionals I have seen the PU give a safe call (both arms out). Am I seeing an approved mechanic or just a personal thing for that particular ump ?

[RKBUmp]

I think it was last year the NCAA added the safe call mechanic to the dropped third strike.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by RKBUmp

I think it was last year the NCAA added the safe call mechanic to the dropped third strike.

When I made that comment last year I was told that it was not. Then again, it shouldn't be.

[KJUmp]

Approved signal and mechanic for the PU. It was added the NCAA manual for the 2012 season.

To be used in D3K situations where.....

"If the pitch was judged 'not caught' but it is not obvious that the catcher did not catch the pitch or there is any confusion among the immediate participants, the plate umpire after giving the standard 'strike signal' shall immediately give a standard 'safe' signal and verbally announce 'No Catch' to indicate that the pitch was not caught."

[EsqUmp]

It is a good mechanic that could help prevent someone from arguing, "Your arm was in the air. You called her out." A product of having a strike and out signal being the same.

I recommend going one step forward. I think that a toned down bow & arrow (not a sell, but just a simple signal) followed by no catch is even better. Then you really can prevent the appearance of calling someone out.

This happened in a regional game, where the defense left the field and a run scored. It was the deciding run.

Granted, the umpire didn't use the correct signals.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by EsqUmp

It is a good mechanic that could help prevent someone from arguing, "Your arm was in the air. You called her out." A product of having a strike and out signal being the same.

No it doesn't. It is a strike, call it as strike and the proper mechanic is an arm in the air.

I recommend going one step forward. I think that a toned down bow & arrow (not a sell, but just a simple signal) followed by no catch is even better. Then you really can prevent the appearance of calling someone out.

I'll go a step further, get rid of the theatrics and just call the strike. If out, sure go ahead an call the batter out. Why do people feel the need to "sell" a called third strike? I just don't see the need for it.

Since coming over from baseball, have never used anything other than the standing mechanic and use an inflection of the call as an indicator of it's importance. Well, I'm lying. In a SP fundraiser I took a called third strike halfway to 3B on this jackass who made it his part-time job to tell everyone how weak the game of softball was, that real men play baseball. His team loved it, told him to shut up and sit down, it wasn't the umpire's fault he didn't swing the bat.

This happened in a regional game, where the defense left the field and a run scored. It was the deciding run.

Granted, the umpire didn't use the correct signals.

So, of course, the umpire needs to take up the slack of poor coaching.

Maybe the next move is to create an umpire-to-umpire signal of when the DTS possibility exists. Or, for that matter, let's have the PU give a signal for all to see, that way there is no excuse for the teams to not be aware of the situation.

[UmpireErnie]

Originally Posted by KJUmp

"If the pitch was judged 'not caught' but it is not obvious that the catcher did not catch the pitch or there is any confusion among the immediate participants, the plate umpire after giving the standard 'strike signal' shall immediately give a standard 'safe' signal and verbally announce 'No Catch' to indicate that the pitch was not caught."

Based on how the NCAA mechanic is written it is discretionary for the PU to make this signal when necessary to communicate his/her judgement on whether or not the pitch was legally caught.

In ASA/NFHS mechanics..we simply say strike (or say nothing while signalling strike for a swing) then the players have to decide if the ball was caught or not. Sometimes U3K is pretty obvious other times it is a close call as to whether or not the ball was caught on the fly or short hopped into F2s glove. IMO there should be some way for us to communicate what our call is in these situations without the BR having to try for 1B or F2 to have to throw to 1B "just in case".

[KJUmp]

Originally Posted by UmpireErnie

Based on how the NCAA mechanic is written it is discretionary for the PU to make this signal when necessary to communicate his/her judgement on whether or not the pitch was legally caught.

It's not discretionary.
If it was not obvious to the "immediate participants" the correct mechanic is for the PU to use the signal. Period.

That pretty much means any D3K where you don't see the ball scooting to the backstop or rolling around plain as day in the area around home plate.

This is what I was told by an evaluator when I used my discretion and decided not to use the mechanic in D3K sitch.