I have never seen this before but I watched a 10 year old kid in our state tournament tonight SCREAM AFTER every pitch.He was not grunting at release,he was literally screaming when the ball was halfway to the batter.

Is this legal?


I am inclined to think it is legal but no way would I allow my son or any kid that played for me to do this.Just seems wrong to me.

We were not facing this team and probably won't.To be honest,the kid throws about as well as ANY 10 year old I have ever seen and really doesn't need to resort to this type of stuff.

No, I would call "dead ball", "no pitch" and give one warning. If it happened again, I would tell the coach to remove the pitcher or toss him for not following umpires instructions.

It is a form of obstruction in my book.

I will get you rule in the morning.

10 years old? Then I would assume that they are not playing by FED (high school) rules.

In OBR there is no verbal obstruction.

Many youth leagues have an "unsportsmanlike" add on rule. Start there.

"Coach...this is an unsportsmanlike act and just plain bush. The kid needs to knock it off."

This was a cal ripken state tournament game.


I agree it is bush and it blows me away that both the childs parents and coaches want to win so bad that they allow it.

"... but the umpire the other day allowed it?%*!!". When they say that I always say a canned phrase: "yeah, I know ... I have to work after some guys who don't know the rules" ... it IS verbal interference.

quote:

Originally posted by dave0mary:
"yeah, I know ... I have to work after some guys who don't know the rules" ... it IS verbal interference.

1. The defense does not interfere, they obstruct

2. This is a league using OBR. There is no verbal obstruction in OBR.

3. It would appear your partners also work with some guys who don't know the rules.

quote:

Originally posted by dave0mary:
"... but the umpire the other day allowed it?%*!!". When they say that I always say a canned phrase: "yeah, I know ... I have to work after some guys who don't know the rules" ... it IS verbal interference.

I had a similar situation the other night. I was working a 60ft district semi and I called an illegal pitch, ball to the batter. Naturally I got the popular," The other night it happened and they wouldn't call it." My stock answer is,"I don't know what happened the other night but tonight this is what we have." This way you don't throw the other crew under the bus. Sometimes coaches don't relate the situation correctly so we really don't know what happened the other night.

as a coach I used to scream after the pitch telling my pitcher to throw strikes