Slapping Rules (College vs Travel / High School)

[radness]

Same pitch to a non slapper is usually a ball. Very irritating! been going on for years. I think we need more women umpires. Maybe those who have actually played the game of fastpitch rather than baseball or, ugh, football. I think slapping is still not accepted by some of these people. Think in reality. What is more exciting a home run or a awesome slap by a very fast ATHLETE who is safe at first base. Home runs are great but a great slapper safe at first base is world class. So is her speed. Slapping is a very athletic art. The work that goes into becoming good at slapping is unbelievable. I don't think many umpires understand this. Some don't care. A few are trying. Many thanks to those few.

What I can share as a possible reasoning might be that because the batter is moving it changes the visual perspective of the umpire.
aka: what umpire would use as a visual reference has changed in motion.

Of which some umpires change their Zone dramatically with the height of batter to batter. While others do not.

From my catching perspective not all umpires change their Zone because of a batter on either side of the box or a slapper moving.

Will ask again, are you looking at pitches from coaching from the sides of the field or from directly behind the plate?

 

[tcom963]

Looks like my opening. This past weekend we got the pleasure to have 2 BAD umps. Maybe the worst that we have ever had.

The plate ump had a strike zone like a star fish. PU was also "able" to see untied shoes all the way to SS and 2nd baseman but could never help on play at 1st or 3rd base.

The BU was never in position to make a good call ..... so it was only a guess. BU was never close to the play and never perpendicular to see all the aspects. Wrong calls all day.


That is insane. Just ridiculous.
Strike zone is very exact. Its not hard when you are that close. Not up for debate, not imaginary....easily seen, measured, quantifiable.....

So I will jump in on this one, not to start a war but ask for clarification.
1. Would you as a parent be willing to pay 30% more for an entry fee to have 3 umpires on the field? Would that solve your distance problem?
2. When you say no help @ 1st or 3rd from PU.... What help are you looking for? Pulled foot? Bobble? RLI? Obstruction? That is all the help a PU can offer.
3. Would you be willing to umpire?
4. How close does BU need to be for a banger at 1st from the C position?
I have been in or around softball for 30+ years as a parent, coach, umpire, UIC, and TD (Before you ask I am almost 50)
I agree we need and effective training, mentoring, and evaluation program, but we also need more umpires.

 

[Agcy]

Same pitch to a non slapper is usually a ball. Very irritating! been going on for years. I think we need more women umpires. Maybe those who have actually played the game of fastpitch rather than baseball or, ugh, football. I think slapping is still not accepted by some of these people. Think in reality. What is more exciting a home run or a awesome slap by a very fast ATHLETE who is safe at first base. Home runs are great but a great slapper safe at first base is world class. So is her speed. Slapping is a very athletic art. The work that goes into becoming good at slapping is unbelievable. I don't think many umpires understand this. Some don't care. A few are trying. Many thanks to those few.

Wow...

All I can say is slapping is a weapon. So is power hitting. My daughters were never ever ever close to being fast enough to be a slapper so they worked and worked and worked on their power hitting.

I better stop there or I will end up down a rat hole (again)

 

[CoachJD]

I don't care what anyone says, 9 times out of 10 they are out of the box.

I actually think it's the opposite. It's almost impossible for a hitter to be completely out of the box and not touching home plate (or standing in front of it) if the boxes are lined properly. Usually if a hitter is out of the box, it's because she steps toward the plate. They're almost never actually out of the box at the front of the batter's box (again, if those boxes are drawn properly). There's a TON of room at the front. 3+ feet in front of the plate.

 

[Agcy]

One of our HS coaches had a picture were, at the point of bat contact with the ball, the slappers foot was well out of the box, but still 1 inch above the ground. She was call OOB out.

Legal hit? Yes.

Discernable to almost any reasonable HS umpire? No.

 

[Agcy]

I actually think it's the opposite. It's almost impossible for a hitter to be completely out of the box and not touching home plate (or standing in front of it) if the boxes are lined properly. Usually if a hitter is out of the box, it's because she steps toward the plate. They're almost never actually out of the box at the front of the batter's box (again, if those boxes are drawn properly). There's a TON of room at the front. 3+ feet in front of the plate.

I get what you are saying, but I've always seen our girls called when they are in front of the box...

 

[CoachJD]

Discernable to almost any reasonable HS umpire? No.

Then the umpire shouldn't make that call. You've gotta be 100% on that. If an umpire is calling this one correctly, they're going to never, ever say a batter is out of the box when she isn't, but they will miss some where she actually is out of the box. The umpire has too many things to pay attention to, and it all happens so fast, that they can really only justifiably call the ones that are super obvious (stepping on/over the plate, etc).

I get what you are saying, but I've always seen our girls called when they are in front of the box...

I'm not saying they don't get called. I just think it's very difficult for a slapper to actually have a foot completely out of the box at contact in the front of the box.

It would not surprise me if they're called for being out of the box when there are no lines, because I'd wager 90% of umpires (especially the ones coming from baseball) have no idea just how long the softball boxes are. I had an umpire who would not let batters have their front foot closer to the pitcher than the front of home plate (same umpire who was calling balls that bounced in front of the plate a strike).

 

[marriard]

Same pitch to a non slapper is usually a ball. Very irritating! been going on for years. I think we need more women umpires. Maybe those who have actually played the game of fastpitch rather than baseball or, ugh, football. I think slapping is still not accepted by some of these people. Think in reality. What is more exciting a home run or a awesome slap by a very fast ATHLETE who is safe at first base. Home runs are great but a great slapper safe at first base is world class. So is her speed. Slapping is a very athletic art. The work that goes into becoming good at slapping is unbelievable. I don't think many umpires understand this. Some don't care. A few are trying. Many thanks to those few.

What on earth are you talking about?

I know hundreds of umpires of all levels and talent, and I can't think of even one that has ANY issue with how a player hits, slaps, fields or anything. Or cares about 'how much work goes into developing a skill' or umpires differently because they don't agree with using a skill?

 

[CoachJD]

Think in reality. What is more exciting a home run or a awesome slap by a very fast ATHLETE who is safe at first base.

A home run. It's also the more valuable hit.

I like slappers. My favorite softball player is a slapper. But a home run is objectively better, and subjectively, it's more exciting to see the ball get hit 300 feet.

 

[Agcy]

Then the umpire shouldn't make that call. You've gotta be 100% on that. If an umpire is calling this one correctly, they're going to never, ever say a batter is out of the box when she isn't, but they will miss some where she actually is out of the box. The umpire has too many things to pay attention to, and it all happens so fast, that they can really only justifiably call the ones that are super obvious (stepping on/over the plate, etc).



I'm not saying they don't get called. I just think it's very difficult for a slapper to actually have a foot completely out of the box at contact in the front of the box.

It would not surprise me if they're called for being out of the box when there are no lines, because I'd wager 90% of umpires (especially the ones coming from baseball) have no idea just how long the softball boxes are. I had an umpire who would not let batters have their front foot closer to the pitcher than the front of home plate (same umpire who was calling balls that bounced in front of the plate a strike).

I might struggle with that and I hope that others give me better advice if I am wrong. The challenge is that you're watching the ball until the point that it hits the bat. Then you look down and see the foot on the ground. I don't think I would know if the foot had been there for a full second or a 0.1 second so I don't know that I would know the foot's exact location at the time of impact.

I do know that some umpires seem to want to call it at least once per game to prove they are doing their job or something (just like I know of one umpire that will call at least one illegal pitch to prove the point but that also might just be a cynical observation).