Taking signs off the plate

[MD Longhorn]

Nothing, nothing, and nothing.

The rules say you must brush your teeth with toothpaste. They do not say you cannot also brush them with baking soda or use mouthwash.

[Skahtboi]

Don't do Little League, but as has already been pointed out, no infraction in ASA or NFHS. I don't care when, or from whom, they receive the actual signal. So long as after stepping on the pitching plate the hesitate (simulate taking a sign) before going into the motion. The verbiage "simulates taking a sign" is there for exactly this reason in all codes of which I am aware.

[tcannizzo]

Originally Posted by Skahtboi

Don't do Little League, but as has already been pointed out, no infraction in ASA or NFHS. I don't care when, or from whom, they receive the actual signal. So long as after stepping on the pitching plate the hesitate (simulate taking a sign) before going into the motion. The verbiage "simulates taking a sign" is there for exactly this reason in all codes of which I am aware.

Isn't it that they must hesitate AFTER bringing the hands together?

[jmkupka]

I have it as, step on, hesitate, bring hands together (book mentions a minimum amount of time of togetherness, but the interp is that the touching alone satisfies the requirement), then begin pitch.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

Isn't it that they must hesitate AFTER bringing the hands together?

No. Maybe you're confusing the requirement to "take or simulate taking" the signs (i.e. hesitate) with the requirement to bring the hands together for 1 to 10 seconds. During this "1 to 10 seconds" (which, by interpretation, means touch at least briefly) the hands may be moving, so there is no hesitation requirement.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

Isn't it that they must hesitate AFTER bringing the hands together?

Still hangin' on to some of the coaching brain cells, huh?

[tcannizzo]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Still hangin' on to some of the coaching brain cells, huh?

Nah, somehow I learned this as an umpire.
Don't know where I picked this up, although I have been more selective lately.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Nothing, nothing, and nothing.

The rules say you must brush your teeth with toothpaste. They do not say you cannot also brush them with baking soda or use mouthwash.

I like that toothpaste analogy !!

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I am late jumping into the discussion. BUT....

I am going to respond per NFHS Baseball and Softball Rules sets. The baseball and softball requirements for all rules codes are nearly the same. The only difference is that softball includes the phrase: "or simulate taking", which is accepted as an "unwritten" rule in baseball.

That said the intent of the rule is to prevent a "quick" pitch. I do not care from where or from whom the Pitcher receives his/her signal, as long is there is a noticeable pause between the time the Pitcher intentionally engages the Pitcher's Plate and the start of his/her pitching motion.

There is not rule justification in either baseball or softball for penalizing a Pitcher for taking his/her signal from anybody before he/she intentionally engages the Pitcher's Plate because the pitching rules do not come into effect until the Pitcher intentionally engages the Pitcher's Plate.

An umpire know when the Pitcher has committed and infraction of the rule because the Pitcher will have "quick" pitched.

MTD, Sr.