As a coach, I've seen several instances where an umpire attempts to help a young player with what could be construed as coaching instructions directly to the player. Particular instances I've seen:
I imagine there are more that others have seen. As a coach, this is easy to handle if the umpires come to the coach between innings. Just nod, smile, thank the umpire, then choose to bring it up to the player (or not ).
The question is what to expect players to do when umpire goes directly to them especially during an at bat. I'd love for them to do the same "nod and smile" routine and continue to do as they were taught, but that's a lot to ask of a young player, especially when we expect them to respect the umpires actual calls (safe, out, strike, ball, etc). A young player (10U) has trouble deciphering the two cases.
Any thoughts?
- Telling a batter who just bunted the ball foul to be sure to run in the first base running lane next time.
- Telling a batter to move further away from the plate.
- Telling a catcher to move further back to avoid interfering with the batter's swing
I imagine there are more that others have seen. As a coach, this is easy to handle if the umpires come to the coach between innings. Just nod, smile, thank the umpire, then choose to bring it up to the player (or not ).
The question is what to expect players to do when umpire goes directly to them especially during an at bat. I'd love for them to do the same "nod and smile" routine and continue to do as they were taught, but that's a lot to ask of a young player, especially when we expect them to respect the umpires actual calls (safe, out, strike, ball, etc). A young player (10U) has trouble deciphering the two cases.
Any thoughts?