BIOGRAPHY
Greg has been a resident of San Clemente for almost 4 years. He is an officer in the Marine Corps and has been on active duty for the past 15 years. Just prior to arriving in California, he and his family spent six years in Okinawa Japan and are very happy to be back in the states taking part in community events.
Greg grew up in Danville, Indiana where he graduated from High School in 1991. After enlisting in the Marine Corps, he finished his AA, and BS from the University of Maryland University College and holds a MBA from Kaplan University. Greg also attended the Western Region Umpire’s School in January 2007 and was awarded the Bob Thorton Award for being the top umpire in the school.
Greg’s wife Melanie is the general music teacher for grades K-8 at Our Lady of Fatima Parish School in San Clemente and they have three children, Kayla (11), Molly (8) and Justin (4). Kayla played for her first time last spring with Greg as her head coach for the Wildcats in the 10U division. Molly will be playing for the first time this spring in the 8U division, while Justin will start tee ball sometime during 2008.
Greg has been an umpire for a long time, but due to their time spent in Okinawa, there was an obvious shortage in opportunity. Since arriving in California in 2004, Greg has been a member of the OC Baseball Officials Association and the OC Softball Officials Association for umpiring High School level ball. Greg also spends a great deal of time on weekends umpiring travel ball for AAU, USSSA and some Baseball of America tournaments. Greg was first involved in San Clemente as an Umpire for San Clemente Little League and is still active in their program today. At the close of 2007, Greg logged over 225 games for the year and hopes to increase his diamond presence to over 300 by the close of 2008
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The Umpires Answers
1. Question: 10U; Ball in infield, overthrown at first, how many bases can she run?
Answer: Ball is live and in play. Runners may advance until the "look back" rule is invoked. So in the scenario, ball is overthrown at first... runner may advance as far as she wants to. The only exception is if the ball is overthrown and enters dead ball area (i.e. dugout, over the fence or hits a coaches bucket!) Since the throw at first is usually an initial play and coming from an infielder, if the ball goes into dead ball area, the award for all runners is two bases from the time of the pitch. This does NOT apply to the right fielder trying to throw the girl out at first from right field. This is an outfielder throwing the ball to the infield and if it goes out of play the award will be two bases from the time the ball leaves the yard. So a late throw to first and subsequently goes out of play may cause us to award third base to the batter-runner.
(There is a lot of confusion on this rule because in 8U, the girls are only allowed one base following a throwing error... so to speak)
2. Question: 10U, Runner on 1st and 3rd. Runner steals second, catcher throws down, then runner on 3rd steals home (delay), is this acceptable?
Answer: Runners may steal only one base per pitch. That doesn't mean the TEAM can only steal once per pitch... so in the example, runners on 1st and 3rd... both may steal, one may steal, one may delay, whatever they want. The only restriction is one base per runner per pitch. I interpret our local rule for a batter who is walked as being frozen at first base until the next pitch. With a runner at 3rd, and a batter walks, in 12U and 14U it is acceptable for the runner to steal immediately and try to advance to 2nd (provided they never stop and be in violation of the look-back rule). In 10U and 8U this is not allowed.
3. Question: When stealing home, does the runner have to slide if the play at home isn't even close?
Answer: When stealing home, we need to STRONGLY encourage runners to slide. Coaches that are trying to teach this type of aggressive play need to ensure their girls are proficient in sliding before doing so. We don't place our kids on bikes without teaching them how to ride or wear a helmet, so we shouldn't be advancing our girls to home if there is a potential for injury due to their inability to slide. This is a BIG safety issue. Umpires should call the girls out if there is a play made and the runner failed to slide. It doesn't have to be close at home, it could be as far apart as the girl hitting the plate and only then the catcher flips the ball to the pitcher. If the ball is flipped, it could hit the runner and she has the best protection if she is on the ground in a slide. Plus the pitcher has the best opportunity to see and catch the ball rather than being hit by the ball because she couldn't see the flip as the runner passed right in front of her. SO... bottom line here is "slide or avoid contact." If there is never a throw from the catcher at the backstop to the plate for the pitcher to receive, the girls should not be called out for failing to slide, but all the catcher would have to do is flip it just as the runner crosses the plate and umpires should be calling her out for failing to slide.
Sorry, a lot of text with this one, but basically, when there is a chance of a runner, fielder and the ball all being at the plate within a fraction of a second, she had better slide or she will be called out. No throw from the catcher... no out called. Don't forget the batter's interference potential here too. If the batter is in the way in any way, she will be out for interfering and the runner would have to return to third.
4. Question: Does a fake throw constitute a play being made on the runner in regard to the "look back" rule?
Answer: In order for the look back rule to be in force, the pitcher must be inside the circle with control of the ball (i.e. not on the ground in her glove while she adjusts her hair). When she is in control, the runners must go straight to a bag without hesitation. There is no requirement for the pitcher to look at the runner, but if the pitcher removes the ball from her glove or holds it up in an attempted (or fake) toward the runner, she is no longer protected by the look back rule. In order to regain protection under this rule, she would need to place the ball back in her glove and no longer be interested in making a play on the runner. This rule does not supersede the one stolen base per pitch rule. Walks are still limited to just first (8U and 10U only) but if the batter hits the ball, they are free to do what ever they want to on the bases until the pitcher has possession of the ball in the circle (except 8U: frozen at 1st). At that point, the runner must not hesitate in returning or advancing to a bag.
5. Question: If a runner tries to advance to 1st on a dropped 3rd strike, does the runner need to be within 3 feet of the baseline either way to avoid being called out for interference?
Answer: The running lane violation is not an easy one to call since we rarely have a lane to work with. We can however judge its approximate location and make calls accordingly. The lane will start 30 feet up the line and extend to the base. If there is a double bag at 1st, there is never a reason for the batter/runner to be in fair territory. The runner must be in foul territory after she has has traveled half the distance toward 1st. If she is stepping on chalk, she is NOT in the lane. Both feet must be clearly in foul territory close to the baseline in order for them to be protected. Now, the second part of this rule involves the catcher/pitcher's throw to 1st. The throw must be a quality throw and potentially catchable by the fielder covering 1st base. This rule exists to allow the fielder to catch the ball. If the ball is never thrown, there isn't a violation. So, both feet in the lane, quality throw, ball makes contact with runner... she is out!
6.Question: A runner trys to advance to 1st on a dropped 3rd strike, runner is running in fair territory within the baseline. Catcher throws the ball and hits runner in the back while trying to advance to the base, runner is called out due to interference. Reason given, that the runner must be in foul territiry of the baseline while trying to advance to 1st. If the runner is within 3 feet of the baseline either way fair or foul territory, its his right of way to the base correct
Answer: The runners lane violation can be a very tough rule to enforce since
9 times out of 10 the lane is not marked on the diamond. 30 feet up
the base line, the lane starts and continues all the way to the bag
at 1st base. Since we use a double bag at first base, there is
really never a reason for the batter-runner trying to reach first
base to leave the runners lane. As you mentioned the runner should
be in foul territory where the lane would be if it were marked. The
rules indicate that the batter runner must have both feet completely
inside the lane (not touching the lines) while running the last half
distance to first base. At the last moment (within a foot or two)
the runner may exit the lane to touch first base and still be in a
legal position. This, however, will ONLY apply if there is no double
bag at first base.
The second part of runner's lane interference is that the catcher
must actually throw the ball and the throw be a quality throw the 1st
baseman could have had a chance to field. So if Susie the catcher
decides not to throw the ball because she thinks she will hit the
runner, the umpire cannot judge the quality of the throw and
therefore there is no interference.
7. Question: On our last practice game a question came up about the dropped third strike rule. If first base is occupied, but the runner is stealing base at the same pitch of the third dropped strike is the batter out because first base is occupied or wil lthe runner be able to take first?
Answer: The dropped third strike always seems to catch people off guard.
Whenever there is a runner on first, the base is considered to be
occupied until that runner has acquired second. Just because they
are stealing second, does not mean they will make it nor does it mean
they are entitled to it. Least of all, they are not considered to be
occupying second base until they have reached it. So the short
answer to your question is: the batter runner would indeed be out
regardless of the position of the runner who occupied first at the
time of the pitch. The only exception to this rule is when there are
two outs. With two outs, the batter is always afforded the
opportunity to get to first if there is a dropped third strike wether
it is occupied or not. It is easiest to look at this as where the
runners are at the time of the pitch.
Questions for the Umpire
Do you have a question for Greg? Please submit your question here.
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QUESTIONS
To be included soon!
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