Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - More Umpiring Talk With Jonathan Miller

Episode Date: June 8, 2021

The title says it all. Jonathan Miller is back to talk about umpiring again. He and D.C. talk about pitch framing a little bit, the differences between minor league and Major League umpiring, and also a little bit about how umpires are trained. Prior to that discussion, however, there were some notable roster moves made by the Mariners. Chiefly, Jarred Kelenic's demotion to AAA Tacoma. However Shed Long Jr. is back, and the Mariners also called up a minor league veteran who will be making his Major League debut once he gets into a ballgame, outfielder Dillon Thomas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Locked-on Mariners, after listening back to yesterday's program, the host asks himself why he doesn't take notes during games anymore. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. I remember things that happened in the Anaheim series. I remember Ace Fraley's Grand Slam. I remember Sunshine Superman's home run. I remember the great play at the plate by Will Vest. I could not tell you which specific games those events occurred.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am D.C. Lundberg, your memory challenged host here with this Tuesday edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, or T-L-O-P-N, or T-Lopin, if you will. Please remember to download rate and follow this program on whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast or any program here on Twitter. Lopin. Before we get into the show today, ladies and gentlemen, I want to wish a very happy birthday to one of my best friends

and my first baseball protege, Calvin. Calvin, happy birthday. Hope you're having a good one today. With no game to recap, so we've got Locked-on Mayor's contributor, John Miller, back with us to talk a little umpiring. John, how are you doing today? I'm doing very well.

Thank you so much for having me. Always a pleasure having you on the show. I love talking about umpiring. You're the perfect guest to have on. in that case, I personally find it fascinating. I hope our listeners do as well. But before we get to any of that, John, there were some very important roster moves that occurred.

Yesterday, Jared Kelnick has been optioned back to AAA. Really, maybe, honestly, a week or so after it should have happened, he'd really been struggling at the plate. His strikeout rate had gone up. It was time to send him back. And that's not, he'll be back, ladies and gentlemen. There's no reason to worry about Mr. Kelnik. the major leagues is so different from AAA John that I don't want to use the word overwhelmed,

but there are players who wind up having historic careers who really struggle at the outset. Mike Trout is a good example of that, and Mr. Kalnick was no different. Do you have any thoughts on that or should we move on to the other roster moves? We can go ahead and move on to the other roster moves. All right, you got it. Also, yesterday the Mariners activated from the 60-day disabled list, Shed Long Jr. He's back in the show, ladies and gentlemen,

after a brief rehab stint with a Tacoma Rainier's in which he hit pretty well. He will most likely be manning second base in Dylan Moore's stead while Mr. Moore is still on the disabled list. As a matter of fact, Mr. Long is in the starting lineup tonight, playing second base and hitting sixth, with Donovan Walton in left field. To make room on the 40-man roster for Mr. Long

as he's coming off the 60-day injured list, telegram Sam Haggurty was transferred from the 10-D injured list to the 60-D injured list, so he's going to be on the shelf for a while still yet to come. And Dylan Moore is beginning a rehab assignment with the Tacoma Rainiers as well. And today there were two roster moves. First baseman catcher Jacob Nottingham was designated for assignment. He had been playing first base and designated hitter for the Mariners.

He's a catcher by trade. I don't know if he ever got into a game with the Mariners as a catcher, however, and knowing how this season has gone from him, he's probably going to be claimed by the Brewers again. But his designation for assignment, as it were, cleared a 40-man roster spot for Mr. Dylan Thomas, who was placed on the active roster. He is with the Seattle Mariners.

He slashed 338, 459, 625 in 25 games with the Tacoma Rainiers this season. He is a minor league veteran. He's a 28-year-old minor league veteran. His first taste of minor league action was 2011. And when he gets into a game league, Ladies and gentlemen, he will be making his major league debut. So congratulations to Mr. Dylan Thomas. And with that out of the way, John, I think it's time for some umpiring talk.

Actually, you know, before we do that, let's set up tonight's pitching matchup. It has Marco Gonzalez starting for the Mariners in Detroit this afternoon. Game time is 4 o'clock. It's probably going to have started already by the time the show is published, quite honestly, against Matthew Boyd. Marco made his first start since coming off the disabled list. Last week through about 50 pitches, the Mariners are going to work him back a little slowly, so I don't expect him to go very long.

In this particular game, fortunately, there was an off day yesterday, so the bullpen should be nice and rested. And actually, John, we're going to go on to the trivia corner at this time, if that's okay, and save the umpiring talk for B block and C block. That is perfectly fine. Thank you. I just don't want to get anything started that I'd have to cut off in 45 seconds or so, since we are almost up on the first break.

Thank you for understanding. Today's trivia corner is a hall pass. This gentleman enjoyed a 17-year career in the 1960s and 70s as a corner infielder, almost exclusively, although he began his career as a corner outfielder. He was a slugger. He slashed, pardon me, 266, 361, 462. He matched 339 home runs and drove in 1,000. 187 runs.

And that batting average, that high on base relative to his batting average, he drew 1,00 walks and did have one season where he walked over 100 times. He also has an MVP award. He received MVP votes in five other seasons, including a second place finish. He's a four-time All-Star and never won any gold gloves, but he was regarded as a very good defender at his position, by his teammates. Would that constitute a Hall of Fame career

for those of you out there in podcast land, I will tell you exactly who that is after this word from Credit Karma. Credit Karma has always been there to help you make better financial decisions and now they want to help you even more. With a Credit Karma Money spend account, you can be rewarded for good money habits.

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See rules banking services provided by MVB Bank Incorporated member FDIC. Maximum balance and transfer limits apply. The conclusion of today's Hall Pass, I will give John a chance to ponder over those statistics and state on the air. or not, he thinks those are Hall of Fame numbers and credentials. Have you had a chance to think about it, John? I have had a chance to think about it. I do not think that for a corner infielder in the 60s and 70s, that is quite good enough to get him into the Hall of Fame.

I would tend to agree with you, Mr. Miller. Do you have any idea who that might be? You said he won an MVP award. Yes, sir. I would tell you the year, but I think he would think. it would give it away for you it looks too. I might not give it away for most of the audience, but for you it would mail it. May I ask what league he played in?

The American League primarily? Yes, only one season in the National League is final season. All other, the rest of his 16 seasons were all in the American League. That pretty much narrows it down for me to either Harmon Killebrew or Boof Powell, and Harmon Killebrew had more home runs than that, so I'm going to go with Boog Powell. You are absolutely correct, sir. In 1970 American League MVP, second in the MVP race in 1969. Second, and then he wins the MVP the next year. The 1969 MVP, by the way, to whom Boog Powell finished second, John, was indeed Harmon Killebrough.

Kind of a nice coincidence there since you thought it was either. Harmon Kilabrew or Mr. Powell. Yes, Kilibrew did hit more home runs than Mr. Powell did, but the rest of the numbers are certainly befitting of Mr. Kilibrew's career. Definitely. Oh, you bet. Coming up, John Miller and I talk about stuff. Yeah, I forgot to write a tease again, ladies and gentlemen.

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Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Rock Auto.com Now back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lungberg. You know, during the musical interlude leading into this second segment, I realized that I didn't think that the first segment was going to be taken up entirely by Mariners' news. John Mailer barely got a chance to speak, but that's going to change. right here in B block, where we are going to kind of continue, so to speak, a conversation that we began on Friday about umpiring.

John is an umpire, a graduate of the Harry Wendlestead School, located, I believe, in Manitoba. Is that correct, John? That is exactly right, sir. Okay. In all seriousness, he is a graduate of the Harry Wendlestet School of umpiring in Florida, so he can provide, you know, a little bit more insight on umpiring than maybe the average guest can.

And one thing that fans who watch Major League Baseball, who may have never seen a minor league game might realize, John, is that in the minor leagues, there are two umpires. In the major leagues, you've got four umpires or in the postseason. It's a six-man crew. But in the minor leagues, it's a two live crew, as it were. Ha, ha, ha, ha. And I was just wondering, John, if you could kind of, I guess,

enlighten the viewers as to the, differences between a two-man crew and a four-man crew. The umpire on the bases in the minor leagues and a two-man crew has so much more responsibility than a base umpire in the major leagues. And I was wondering if you might be able to expand on that a little bit. Certainly. I will add that at the AAA level, I believe they have three umpires. I believe you're correct. Yes. And what they teach us at the school, and I believe it's this way at all the schools, they teach us, they start off with the mechanics for a two-man crew because they know when you start

off in the minor leagues you are only going to have the two of you out there. And then they branch out and three and four-man and so on. And as you pointed out, yes, the base umpire in a two-man crew moves a lot. Yeah, he does. That kind of gets back to an email question we had last week, John, where a listener asked if there was some sort of agility training that was necessary for an umpire to keep his job, it's kind of built in in the minor leagues because the base umpire has to be all over the field. He's got to get around. It's part of the job. Yeah, generally with the exception of guys like say Durwood Merle, who I believe had been a high school teacher for a number of years before he went to umpire school and he recounts being one of the old.

older guys at the school. Mm-hmm. And when I was at the school, you had guys that literally just graduated high school. You had a few guys that were in their 60s. Really? Who were just there because I love baseball and I want to have fun and learn about it. You know, that gives me an idea as something that I could do when I get near retireans and have the money to do that.

Oh, it is the time of your life. And to anybody out there, if you have the slightest interest, even of, umpiring at the local levels here. We need umpires all over everywhere, going out there and working with the kids or umpiring at the higher levels. I've done adult leagues where it's the time of your life. And in a way,

it can be more fun at the lower levels or at the leagues where they're, as we pointed out with like the lower minor leagues, they're still having fun. They love the game. That's why they're out there. That's essentially why everybody is out there. That's why I've been out there

and so many of my colleagues in blue have been out there is because we love the game. That's why you go out there every season. Yeah, there's an adult league here in the Spokane area. I forget the name of the league, but they have divisions. They have a 35 and over team, which is the division I would be in if I were to try out and make it.

They have a 48 and over division as well. And there are adult leagues like this all over the country. I can't do that anymore with the back problems I have now. But when I moved here, that was something that was kind of on my radar to look into, you know, once I really got my feet under me in terms of employment and bringing in a decent paycheck, and then the back problems happened and that went by the wayside. But those leagues need umpires. It's not just little leagues high school.

college, these adult leagues that are all over the country, that you could look into yourself, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to play some ball and have some fun, I would recommend looking into it. There's one in the Puget Sound region, too. Oh, yes. Yeah, they need umpires. And that would be, I don't know where I'm going with that.

John, can he clean me up, please? Well, we are not sponsored by any specific league. No, we're not. If you are interested in playing and umpiring, if you have experience and you're wanting to go out there and coach, whether you're coaching kids and making sure they're living clean, staying off the streets, getting good exercise, do it. Be involved however you can.

Baseball is a great game, and we need to either give back or show our love for it. Yeah, those are very good points, and again, we're not sponsored by any such league of that sort. We are advocating baseball. That is all we are advocating at this time. Yes, sir. But one thing I am going to advocate is for the folks at home, If you have a question or a comment that you would like addressed on the air See how, that's called a segue, ladies and gentlemen.

If you have a question or a comment, mail it to Lockton, Mariners at gmail.com. I will address it on the air in a future mailback episode. Questions and comments on any subject whatsoever are highly encouraged. Does not have to be about the Mariners, baseball, or sports. Unpiring questions. I can bring John Miller back on a mailback episode. I've done it before when we've had umpiring questions.

He can be able to answer them much better than I can. we have an expert in-house. So anything about umpiring, ask locked-on manners at gmail.com. Mr. Miller will come on the air to answer it. Coming up, since I forgot to write a tease here as well, I'll just say stick around after and I'll talk about bet online at this time. It's the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Baseball season is a full swing.

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It's just kind of the way it had to happen today. I had a Zoom conference with some of my classmates earlier in the day regarding a group project for our class. That's got to take precedence, unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for that. Also, I'll take this time to mention that I technically still have my job as a daycare teacher they have me on their staff as a substitute.

And if there is a day where they call me in to go sub for a few hours, I'm going to have to take it because of the money. And if that happens, then the show that day would be late. That hasn't happened yet, and it might not happen, but the possibility does exist. And with that out of the way, we are back here with John Miller. And John, we were talking during the break that you were noticing something this year about the way catchers are doing something.

I will let you take it from there and I will let you go off, sir. We have seen it for a number of years. Announcers will make mention of this and catchers are doing it and I cannot figure out a reason for it. Maybe you can help me with this DC. I do not understand why they are framing pitches. It's a statistic.

I mean, they figured out a way to, quantify it in a statistic. And I think that they did figure out that there are catchers who are better at quote-unquote framing pitches than others, but more often than not, especially this year. And I think it's Jose Godoy

who does this the most. He doesn't really frame the pitch. Catchers will just yank their mitt back to the middle of the zone. And I don't know if that's kind of, I've also noticed, John, that umpires strike zones have been a little bit more

inconsistent this year than they have in years past. And I'm wondering if there's some sort of correlation between the inconsistent strike zones and pitch framing. They're calling pitches out of the strike zone strikes, and they're calling pitches within the strike zone balls. And I'm wondering if catchers yanking their mitt back to the middle of the zone might have something to do with that. From what I have observed this season, and you may be able to add something to this,

that a pitch that's being called, high pitch or low pitch that's being called a ball, it would be it's near the top or bottom of the zone, where we can clearly see that it's there, but for whatever reason, umpire does not see it or is not calling it. And then for those pitches that are inside or outside, I've seen a few that they're very obviously a few inches outside. but then others, they're just outside, and it might be the subconscious thing of, oh, yeah, it happened in the Red Sox Yankees game, I think, over the weekend,

where the umpire called a pitch that was obviously outside a third strike, and that sent them to extra innings. Oh, wow. And I've always wondered what is happening, no doubt, in the subconscious of an umpire's mind as to why some pitches like that is I just want to get out of the inning. And so any pitch that's close gets called, or is it you decide you just don't like that batter? I don't know, but I feel like Ball and Strike Unpiring has been slipping a lot this year.

And speaking of the subconscious, like you just were, John, I'm wondering, because I've seen pitches within the Strike Zone also being called balls. Like, there's no question about it. And I'm wondering if the catcher, you know, yanking their mitt back to the middle of the zone, like I've been talking about, like I've said three or four times already, I'm wondering if subconsciously the umpire is saying, this catcher's trying to deceive me, that must have been a ball. I'm wondering if there's something like that going on, John. I've never been a catcher, and I've never been an umpire. So, the only thing I can do is speculate and give educated guesses.

I caught part-time in one of the seasons I played in one of the local adult leagues here, but I did not worry about trying to frame a pitch, and our coach never talked to me about it. That's a very recent development. I mean, I caught a little bit too, but never on a team. I never played on a team, ladies and gentlemen. I would go out to the yard with my friends, and we would run drills. that's why I was a much better infielder than I was outfielder because we'd hit each other ground balls.

And I got pretty good at scooping up errant throws from first base. Anyways, catching, pitch framing. It has it kind of been, I don't want to say in vogue, but it's been much more stressed over the last five or ten years. And now I'm kind of thinking that it might be a good idea, John, to get a catcher on this show. I don't know who the heck that would be. I don't have any connections, ladies and gentlemen.

But, you know, get somebody on the show who can talk about pitch framing from a catcher's point of view. We've got the umpire's point of view, and now we might want to try to get the other ones. But again, I don't know who that would be. So that might not be possible. And I also don't know where to go to find statistics on pitch framing or anything like that.

I am the least sabermetric host on the lockdown network. I just go for the dummy stats, because that's what I've been used to for 25 years now, and I've learned to judge baseball based on those stats, and I've gotten good at it, so I don't need the newfangled stats, so I ignore them. But this might be one instance where I would want to get the opinion of somebody

who is more into those stats, and I could get any number of hosts from the other baseball shows to help me out with that. Would that be a conversation, John, that you would be willing to have on the air? I would definitely be willing to have that. I would like to learn about it. Well, you know what, let's try to do that then.

I don't know when we'll be able to do that. It'll depend on the other host schedule, my schedule and yours, obviously. But let's pencil that in for a future episode. You have that to look forward to here on Locked on Mariners, ladies and gentlemen. But for today, that is going to do it. John, thank you again for joining us today. Where can the nice people find you on the socials if they are still there? If you are still on the socials, I can be found on Twitter at Seattle Pilot,

Very nice. And the locker room at Seattle Pilots 69 as well. I do not know when my locker room will be opening up this week. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a huge workload at school, but it will be sometime this week. It might not be until the weekend. Follow me at Locked-on Mariners on the locker room, and you'll get notified when my room goes live.

Whenever that might be able to happen. I don't do the Twitter thing anymore. You guys know that I haven't plugged Twitter on the show for several months. There's no reason to. So don't bother looking for me there. Tomorrow on Locked-on Mariners will be recapping this afternoon's game, which again is probably already in progress. Joining me to do that will be Betty Rubble,

Cookie Monster, and a spork. Yes, indeed. You will not want to miss that gang. Just based on John's reaction, you know that's a great panel. So download, rate, and follow Locked-on Mariners. Look for us in any podcasting app that springs into your head so you never miss an episode. Leave a rating and review of your podcasting app of choice. allows. Thank you again for listening, ladies and gentlemen. I am D.C. Lundberg. I will be talking to you

tomorrow afternoon. In the interim, have a great day. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski will keep you updated on the latest news in every major sport with Locked On's team of local experts. Follow the Locked On today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever else you get your podcasts. This is Joey Martin speaking for Lockedon Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.