All they do to signal an illegal pitch is stick their arm straight out, aimed at the pitcher. They should be doing that as soon as they see the “hop” or “leap.” It only takes a fraction of a second. There is no reason to wait until after the pitch is delivered.

I’m wondering if sometimes they actually DO signal for it on pitches that end up being called a ball, but because it has been called a ball, the home plate umpire doesn’t need to do anything extra (the way he does when a pitch is called a strike and he has to reverse the count). Unless the camera is focused on one of the base umps, how do we know for sure that they didn’t actually signal for an illegal pitch that was ultimately called a ball anyway? I’m hoping this is the case. If they are waiting for the outcome of the pitch to signal it, that is total BS and obviously invites bias into it.

One other issue I think deserves a mention on this topic: an illegal pitch can be called by either umpire on the bases. It can’t be called by the home plate umpire. Why not make the rule that both umpires need to signal for it, in order for it to be called? Yesterday, a few of the illegal pitches called on Emma were called illegal by BOTH base umpires. When only one of them calls it, obviously they are not seeing things the same way. On Saturday in Tallahassee, the first base umpire called several illegals on Emma, but the third base umpire did not (and the guy on first was not Mr. Hyde, the infamous guy on third from Sunday).

Having both base umpires needing to agree on the illegal pitch call in order for it to be called might be the way to go. They are both looking for it on every pitch. The one who doesn’t signal for it is basically saying it is NOT an illegal pitch. Why is the other one (who does call it) automatically deemed to be correct? I think the number of illegal pitches called national wide would drop dramatically if both base umps needed to make the call—and that would be a good thing for the entire sport, not just VT.