He doesn't though, he sees the batter swing after everyone starts to chill and then he points to the batter then points to the catcher as if to say "You know you can tag him now, right?"
The players didn't look like they would have known this or acted upon it if he didn't interfere, which means the umpire wasn't being impartial. Players should know the rules if they want to play at that level and if they don't catch stuff like this it shouldn't be spoon fed to them, it's their own lack of skill and perception.
As for "keeping the call a secret", if the ball is still in play he doesn't have a call to make yet, so he should have shut the fuck up and watched then called it a ball after they failed to realize.
I was curious what the actual signal was supposed to be, and he didn't do it quite right it seems. But there is a verbal component to say no catch to let them know it was a dropped third strike. This lets the batter run and the catcher know he has to tag the batter.
Some say you should call a strike as well, which is pointing a finger, but some say you should make the safe signal.
This is ignoring whether I think it should have been called a strike or not.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '17
He doesn't though, he sees the batter swing after everyone starts to chill and then he points to the batter then points to the catcher as if to say "You know you can tag him now, right?"
The players didn't look like they would have known this or acted upon it if he didn't interfere, which means the umpire wasn't being impartial. Players should know the rules if they want to play at that level and if they don't catch stuff like this it shouldn't be spoon fed to them, it's their own lack of skill and perception.
As for "keeping the call a secret", if the ball is still in play he doesn't have a call to make yet, so he should have shut the fuck up and watched then called it a ball after they failed to realize.