Poorly written / trick questions on umpire tests

[EsqUmp]

Originally Posted by PATRICK

Fair enough!

But they are for the most part VERY similar.

Modified "C"

Peeking to the OF instead of chasing

Split foul ball coverage

Yeah. We have a few other nuances but those are the bigger differences. Modified "C" is good for those games where you'll never see a play at 3rd base. We split fair/foul and catch/no catch without wasting umpires who can only take two steps "going out" anyway. It does surprise me how many umpire from other associations are shocked that we stress watching the ball and utilizing both umpire to their maximum potential.

For obvious reasons, these mechanics are similar to PONY's.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by EsqUmp

... Modified "C" is good for those games where you'll never see a play at 3rd base....

Curious....how do you know that you will have one of these games?

What is the "modified C" position anyway?

[PATRICK]

Originally Posted by Andy

Curious....how do you know that you will have one of these games?

What is the "modified C" position anyway?

Same as U3 rotated, but in a 2man system.
Similar to baseball going back to B with two outs.
I'll never use it.

[EsqUmp]

Originally Posted by Andy

Curious....how do you know that you will have one of these games?

What is the "modified C" position anyway?

Experience is your first clue. The next clue is when they walk the bases loaded to start the game. Another might be that the catcher hasn't even attempted to throw a runner out trying to steal. Some teams are poor enough that the coaches agree not to steal so that they can keep the force on in hopes of getting an out - that tends to eliminate the pick off at 3rd base.

In these types of games, virtually all of the outs come at 1st base and a few may come at 3rd base. So we allow the umpire to move just to the 1st base side of 2nd base. It's basically a philosophy of going where the action is, rather than standing 90 feet away from it the whole game.

If things change, umpires should adjust, the same way players adjust to the situation at hand (or at least ought to).