Umpire calls strikes from behind the mound
During Tuesday's Angels-Brewers game, home plate umpire Seth Buckminster got hit in the hand with a pitch from Brewers pitcher Wily Peralta. The injury was apparently severe enough to force Buckminster to leave the game, and since there are typically only three umpires at Spring Training games, that turned into quite the issue.
Third base umpire Tim McClelland then took up a position behind the pitchers mound to call balls and strikes, creating an incredibly bizarre situation for the Brewers and Angels. This is something that you'll occasionally see in Legion ball, but in MLB? Absolutely crazy, but in Spring Training, odd things happen sometimes.
In the second inning, AJ Johnson would take up the umpiring position behind the plate, ending the weirdness in Maryvale.
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When doing youth games, if there was only 1 umpire available, behind the mound was the preferred position
In spring training the object is to keep the game going, in the regular season they wait for someone to put the gear on and go behind the plate.
