The Art Of Calling Pitches (Umpiring Made Easy Book 2)

I mean, would you block the plate and thereby induce a collision, or would you like to give them a path so that they would slide and try and avoid the tag? How did you approach that? You know, every play at the plate can be slightly different, but going into it, this was my general approach: The ball gets hit to the outfield, there's a runner at second base, I know there's a possible play at the plate as soon as the ball's hit.

So I get my feet set, usually at the left - the front left corner is where I put my left foot, and I kind of point my toe towards third base because if that runner slides into me, I don't want to have my toe pointed towards the pitcher's mound, and now the runner slides into the side of my knee. So I'm setting my feet ahead of time. And as the play develops, you get a sense, by looking back and forth and through your peripheral vision, if there's going to be a play or not.

And as the throw comes in, what happens more often than not is the throw takes you to where you go because you have to catch the ball and apply the tag. So you have to go where the throw is. If it does come right to you and there's time to catch the ball and set, then that's probably when you're going to get hit. The general rule as a base runner is if you're running towards home and the catcher is about to catch the ball or already has the ball, that's when you want to hit him.

That's when you want to either jostle him, jostle him just before he catches it, or hit him hard enough where he drops it. And that's really the only time where the contact comes into play at home plate. I - one clearly stands out above the rest. I was playing in Houston, and we were playing against the Milwaukee Brewers, and a player named Scott Podsednik was on second base, and there was a base hit to center field, where Carlos Beltran was playing. And there was going to be a play at the plate. The throw, kind of as I described, took me a little bit to my right, and I had to reach with my gloved left hand and come back towards home plate, and as I came back towards home plate, Scott Podsednik hit me on the left side of my shoulder and mask, and I was actually spun around, my helmet came flying off, and I was unconscious for about five or 10 seconds.

You know what, ironically I did. I didn't know it. I held on to the ball, and I landed face-first in the dirt, and the pitcher, who was backing up home plate in case of an overthrow, had to come over and take the ball out of my glove while I was unconscious, in case the runner at first, who had had the original single, tried to advance to the next base. Yeah, I mean typically the umpire just looks to see if the catcher holds on to the ball, and if he does, it's an out, right? Yeah, generally that's how it works.

If there's a collision, they're assuming a tag was applied, and more often than not, that's the case. Do you think the rules should change? I mean, you know, this doesn't happen at second base or third base, where guys just go barreling into a fielder, and I've got to see - even though as a catcher you've got some protection, the momentum is with the base runner. Should the rule change? No, I don't think there should be any rule changes other than with one caveat. I would say maybe take away the head hits. Any contact by the base runner at the catcher's head or above his shoulders could be deemed illegal.

That way, with all the new studies and discoveries concerning concussions, you might be able to avoid some post-playing career issues, medical issues.

Covering The Plate: A Baseball Catcher Tells All : NPR

But other than that, home plate's different. Home plate is not second base. Home plate is not third base. When you cross home plate, you've scored a run, and one run can make the difference in a game. So for me, being a catcher, even though I know I could have been hurt while trying to block home plate or trying to apply a tag at home plate, home plate's not third base. If someone slides into third base, that's not going to win the game for them.

If someone slides into home plate, and they've crossed it and tagged it, that could win the game for them, and the axiom in baseball is one game can be the difference between a playoff team and a team that goes home and plays golf. So one run could be the difference. We're speaking with Brad Ausmus. He spent 17 years as a catcher in the big leagues. We'll talk more after a break. If you're just joining us, we're speaking with former big league catcher Brad Ausmus. He caught more than 1, games in Major League Baseball. We're talking about the life of a catcher.

I want to talk about what happens there at the plate with the umpire. I mean, you're behind the plate. The batter's at the back of the batter's box and the ump is crouching over your shoulder. You're kind of almost a unit there.

I mean, do you and the umpire sort of work together? Is there a sort of choreographed dance there? Generally speaking, the umpire works around the catcher. There are some umpires who like to place a hand on the catcher's shoulder or side. It kind of lines them up and gives - they know where they are and gives them their view of the strike zone. And you know, 99 percent of the catchers have no problem with it. And sometimes the umpire will even say, hey, does my hand on your shoulder bother you?

And once again, I think 99 percent of catchers say no, don't worry about it. As long as the umpire's not actually pushing you in any way when you're trying to catch the ball, it's usually not an issue. The umpire is kind of setting up around the catcher, but you are, in a sense, working together. And you know, I will have umpires, or I have had umpires, say, hey, I'm having trouble seeing the inside pitch, can you get a little lower.

And generally you try to accommodate the umpire. This guy's making decisions on balls and strikes. The last thing you want to do is make him angry. So you are working together, and you get to know these guys. You know, people from the stands are yelling blue or four-eyes, you know, whatever they have for the umpire, but you know, you get to know the umpires by name. You have a rapport with them. You know who you can joke around with, who you can't. So there is a relationship there that goes beyond business.

And can you work an umpire? I guess one of the things you do is when a close pitch comes in, you try and frame it for the umpire and make them give it the appearance of a strike, right? And that's something I'm told you were known for doing well. Yeah, you want to get every pitch you can.

And my whole premise was the less movement you had, the less distracted the umpire is, the more likely the umpire is to think it's a strike. If there's a lot of movement, he's thinking you're reaching for the ball, it can't be where you wanted it. Maybe it was a ball. Or sometimes just the movement of a catcher itself can distract the umpire. So my whole theory was as little movement as possible and make the ball look like it's in the center of my body.

So there was a slight shift of my upper body as I tried to catch the ball towards the center of my chest protector, in a spot where the umpire could see it. I don't mean catch it literally on my chest protector, but directly in front of my sternum, I would try and catch it with slight shifts from side to side, no sudden movements. You know, early in the game, generally speaking, I'm going to let the umpire kind of establish where his strike zone is.

You know, these guys aren't computers.

Glossary of baseball

Not every umpire has the exact same strike zone. There are slight variations. And I don't mind the variations, as long as these variations hold true for the entire nine innings. If they've established their strike zone in a certain manner in the first two innings or so, I don't want to see that strike zone change when we get into the eighth inning and now the game is on the line and he misses a call that he's called all day.

So as long as they're consistent with their strike zones, you know, I don't think anyone really has a problem with it. And what does it - tell me what it sounds like when you admonish an umpire or work him in a circumstance like that, where you think they've, you know, they've changed their strike zone. It would again, it would depend on the situation. If it's the first time I disagreed with him, it would - it'd be very congenial. And one general rule I stuck to was I didn't really admonish an umpire or argue or question an umpire while there was a hitter within earshot.

Even if it was only the second pitch at the at-bat, and the at-bat went eight pitches, I would wait till that hitter was gone before I said something to the umpire, and usually if it was one - the first or second pitch that I disagreed with it, I'd ask him: Hey, where did you have that curve ball that he threw second pitch? And the umpire might say: Oh, I had it outside. I thought it caught the corner. That right there sends a message, all right?

He thinks - he knows that I thought it was a strike, even if he had the pitch being outside.

Now, if this happens again and again, or he consistently misses pitches that I think are strikes, or he consistently - or I should say not consistently, if he later in the game doesn't call something a strike that he had called early in the game, then it could get a little bit more volatile. And believe it or not, sometimes you don't even have to say anything. You can just hold the pitch a little bit longer, not throw it back to the pitcher as quickly. Body language speaks as loud as words. And the rule is you're not allowed to argue balls and strikes.

You can be ejected for that, right. So you kind of have to be subtle about it. I mean, the umpire will give you some leeway in terms of disagreeing with him. You know, umpires know they're not going to get percent of the pitches right, and as long as you're not complaining every single inning, every single game they're behind home plate, they really don't have a problem with you disagreeing with them. I think as a catcher, you need to understand that these guys have a job to do. The large majority of them are doing the best they can. You know, they don't have vendettas against players, generally speaking.

They don't hold grudges. One of the first things they're taught is they can't hold grudges. They're trying to get every pitch right. They're being evaluated on it. And there's no animosity that the umpires harbor, for the most part, against players. They want to get the call right. Brad Ausmus spent 18 years catching in the big leagues. He's now a special assistant to the San Diego Padres. He'll be back in the second half of the show. We're talking about the life of a Major League catcher with Brad Ausmus who retired last year after 18 seasons in the big leagues.

One of the most important things a catcher does is to call the pitches that the pitcher is going to throw. I mean people who watch the game know that between your legs you will drop typically I guess one finger to signal a fastball and then two, three or four for various other pitches that the pitcher might throw the, you know, a curveball, a slider, a changeup. And when you see this working well it's interesting. You will see the pitcher get the ball back and then almost go into the wind up immediately. And I'm thinking for that to happen the catcher must be making the decision on what pitch to call immediately as soon as the last pitch is a completed.

That's exactly what happens. A pitch is thrown and as soon as you've thrown it back there's kind of a checklist that you go through. And it becomes more reflexive as you do it more and more. And a veteran catcher, a lot of the checklist he just glosses over because he knows the answer to it. But you're really going through a bunch of different things in your mind, including what's the score? What inning are we in? What's this hitter's weaknesses? What is this pitcher's strengths?

Balls & Strikes

How did we get this guy out last time? What pitches did he see? What pitch did we just throw? So I mean there's about 10 to a dozen things that you kind of - a checklist you go through in your mind before you put that signal down. And then you can pick from four or five pitches that the pitcher throws. And it can be up or down or inside or outside. That's a lot of options that you've got to get through in a hurry. And you prepare for it. You know, it's, that checklist you go through before every single pitch. But a lot of it happens beforehand.

You know, you, we have pitcher and catcher meetings. On the teams I've played with the catchers would get together and go over the entire offensive lineup or potential lineup, their strengths, their weaknesses. What - can they run? Do they hit and run? Before every series I would have a stack of graphs and they would have each hitter on the opposing team, what they did against right-handed, what they did against left-handed pitchers, what they did against curveballs and sliders, against right-handed or left-handed pitchers, what they did against changeups and split-fingered fastballs against right-handed and left-handed pitchers.

And this all gets condensed down into basically a sheet or a chart of strengths, weaknesses. And you use that as your cheat sheet before the game and when you're going over the lineup with the pitcher that day. And so this all, all the decisions that go on during the course of a game, this starts long before the games begin.

And in fact you could even make the argument that when a new pitcher comes to a team it starts all the way back in spring training when you are catching this new pitcher to your team and your figuring out what his strengths, what are his best pitches, what is his best off-speed pitch. And all this knowledge gets applied when you get into the game with that pitcher and you have to call pitches.

How many hours a week would you spend just doing the mental work? I mean outside the game just studying stuff, making graphs? Well, I would do the graphs before every series. So and that would take me a couple hours. And then you go over each lineup on a given day which would only take about 20 minutes. And then I would spend another's 20 minutes every game that I was catching going over the chart myself and looking at that day's opposing lineup and just giving myself a little refresher of what the strengths and weaknesses are of each player in the opposing team's lineup.

So a catcher then who knows his pitcher and knows all of the hitter's tendencies and calls a great game is a tremendous asset, and I think people in baseball know this. And frankly, people who write about you say that you were one of the best at this. Adam Dunn who is, of course, a terrific left-handed power hitter has said of you, as a hitter I hate him. Because you are known for doing this well.

You've also though got a handle your pitcher's psyche. If the pitcher out there is getting frustrated, not hitting his spots and you trot out. I'm sure every conversation is different, but do you have to know, I don't know, do some pitchers bristle if you make a suggestion? Is it a matter of simple encouragement? What do you say when you get out there and talk to them? The one general rule I had - and this didn't apply every single time I went out to talk to a pitcher.

You know, there are times where I would have to get on a pitcher, but my general rule was when I left the pitcher's mound after talking to any given pitcher, I want them to feel like they can get out of this situation. You know, baseball's a tough game. It's not as physically demanding as say football or hockey. But it's a tough game in the sense that it's pitch after pitch after pitch for pitches a game for six straight months with very few days of rest. So when I left that mound, I wanted that pitcher even if he was in the worst situation possible.

If he was in bases loaded, no outs, with the tying run at third base in the bottom of the ninth inning, when I left that pitcher's mound, I wanted that pitcher to feel like hey, I've got a chance to get out of this. So I, my general rule was to be positive. Unless there was a guy who I knew could handle a little yelling or little berating, I was generally very calm and I walked away hoping that they felt like this is not an impossible situation.

Usually when I was berating someone it was because they were pitching what I would call scared. Stay with me, here. The strike zone isn't something that you measure. It's something that you learn to see. It's not so much the strike zone that you learn to see. Rather, it's the edges of the zone. And you learn to see the calculus of a breaking ball that grazes or doesn't the zone peeling in from the top or side, or maybe just clips the bottom as it heads for the dirt. But watch out for that last one because it will get you in trouble. Others, including Carl Childress see Working the Plate: Another View, Part 1 argue for building your zone your mental image of the zone, that is from the top down.

I'm with Osborne on this one — building the zone from the bottom up. In the article linked to above, there is a section entitled "The Philosophy of the Strike Zone. Then read it again. You don't have to agree with everything Osborne says; however, if you don't, you should have a pretty good reason why not. I'm not saying Osborne's advice is gospel; I'm just saying it's really well thought out, and if you move on from there you have to do some pretty good thinking yourself.

AND work about a thousand games.

1. Cinnamon Kiss: Easy Rawlins 10.
2. Journey!
3. A Vision.
4. 10 bizarre baseball rules you won't believe actually existed.
5. Books for Umpires!

Again, it's a matter of learning to see. Reference points like the knees of both batter and catcher form part of the portrait, as does the movement of the catcher's mitt, the batter's belt, the position of the batter's hands, and of course the plate itself. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Glossary of baseball - Wikipedia;
• .
• Leslie-Ellis of Co. Wicklow (The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of Co. Wicklow Book 6).
• Calling Balls & Strikes - UmpireBible?
• Case Study;

We're going to cover two topics in this article: What I call the " Pro zone " is pretty much the zone that is called in professional, college, high school, and higher levels of club and travel ball — pretty much 15 years old and up. The top of the zone is significantly lower than is specified in Definitions strike zone. I can't explain this deviation from the Official Rules except to say that the tradition and culture of baseball has modified the written rule with a generally accepted "real-world" interpretation of what the strike zone should be.

In the real world, the top of the zone is about a ball above the belt. Note that the strike zone expands upward to adjust for age and ability , not outward or downward — that is, until you reach the really young kids, roughly ten and under. However, these ages are not written in stone. You must adapt to the skill level, which tends to correlate with age, but doesn't always.

Where necessary, you can expand the zone outward off the plate. I've indicated this in the illustration for the 10U group, but this can be applied to upper levels as well — again, based on age and ability. Only you, the pitcher and the catcher can see this, so as long as you're consistent you won't get complaints. You can take it a ball to a ball-and-a-half off the plate. But again, don't give away inside. The adjustment I've indicated for players aged 14 and under takes the upper limit of the strike zone to roughly where the rule book specifies "the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants".

This upper limit typically corresponds with the bottom of the uniform letters, but this can vary. For players aged twelve and under , bring the level up under the armpits, but keep it below the hands. By this age coaches are teaching their players to never touch a pitch above the hands. Try to work with this. The illustration doesn't show it, but at this level you can easily give a ball on the outside. For the really young players you have to give quite a bit. They're just recently out of t-ball and coach-pitch leagues and it's all they can do, sometimes, to reach the plate, let alone hit the strike zone.

Add to this a quite natural fear of the ball that many young batters have and you have a recipe for a walk-a-thon. You must keep the kids at the plate swinging the bat and to do this you pretty much adopt the position that if a pitch is hittable, then it's a strike.