Home Plate Umpiring

As a home plate umpire, you'll find yourself in the middle of the action, at every pitch. You'll be responsible for "calling the game" which includes balls/strikes and managing the flow of the game.

Younger Little League age levels (7 – 9 years old) are a great place to start your plate umpire experience. The younger levels are a more relaxed environment and a slower game compared to older kids.

If you're umpiring older kids for the first time, I recommend you gain some base umpiring experience before trying home plate. Working alongside a veteran plate umpire will teach you proper mechanics for getting a good view of the ball as it cross the plate and provide exposure to the most common situations that plate umpires need to deal with and make rulings on.

Follow the answers to these questions and you'll be on your way to umpiring home plate (and live to tell about it).

Learn Home Plate Umpiring essentials

• What should my strike zone be?
• How should I position myself behind home plate?
• How do I make calls from behind home plate?
• What safety precautions should I take?

Expand your game with advanced Home Plate Umpiring techniques

• Besides calling the game, what are my other responsibilities?
• What are the main differences between umpiring baseball and softball?
• How do I stay in synch and communicate with other umpires during the game?