Teachable - A Base Touch Rotation with John Tumpane

For this Teachable, we watch an umpiring rotation during Tigers batter Riley Greene's triple as Detroit hosted Minnesota. After 2B Umpire Marvin Hudson goes out on a fly ball to the gap, 3B Umpire John Tumpane runs to fill in the vacated second base position, watching for batter-runner Greene's touch of second base.

Behind the play, HP Umpire Ryan Blakney has also rotated up the foul line to prepare for a play into third base and 1B Umpire Charlie Ramos is prepared to rotate to home plate if need be.

With no runners, the 2B Umpire is obliged to go out on any ball the umpire senses may become a "trouble" ball—which is those that may be subject to interference, catch/no catch issues, or stadium boundary questions such as a ball getting stuck in a wall or bounding out of play.

Sidebar: The following Mets-Marlins play from September 11, 2022 is an example of what might transpire if a 2B Umpire opts not to pursue a ball into the outfield that does indeed become a trouble ball, creating an umpiring coverage vacuum in the outfield that ultimately sees the home plate umpire make a lodged ball call.

Related Post: Angel Hernandez's Stuck Ball Ruling in Mets-Marlins (9/11/22).

Thus, it is important that all umpires on the field be prepared to rotate to new positions for new responsibilities as play develops, as Hudson's crew does in Detroit—Tumpane becoming the umpire in the middle as the Twins unsuccessfully appealed a missed base, ruled safe by Tumpane, and upheld via Replay Review.

Video as follows:

Alternate Link: Tumpane rotates to 2nd to observe a base touch during Twins-Tigers (CCS)