French Baseball Umpire
About me
. Baseball & Softball player from 1988 to 2022
. Baseball & Softball coach from 1993 to 2022 (youth Baseball/Softball, adult Baseball and co-ed Softball)
. Board member for several clubs in France
. League’s staff member
. Started umpiring in 2013, though my 1st class was in 2002
. +13-year / +800-game umpire experience (see more details below)
. Instructor for the French Federation from 2018 to 2023
. Worked 2 – 3 – 4 and 6 umpire crews
. Moved to San Diego in September 2023 (see more details below)
Clinics and supervisions
. AP Western States Umpire Clinic – 3 & 4-Umpire Camp – Las Vegas, Nevada – October 24-27, 2024
- Instructors: Anthony Prater, Jimmy Craig, Alberto Ruiz & Jacob Asher, all NCAA umpires
. Umpire Focus 2-Umpire Camp – Phoenix, Arizona – October 18-20, 2024
- Instructors: Adam Dowdy (former MLB umpire & NCAA D1 umpire), Alex Tosi (MLB umpire) & Brian Fields (former MiLB umpire)
. SDCBUA Clinics (San Diego County Baseball Umpire Association) – Dec 2023 & Feb. 2024 –
- Instructors: Ryan Bell (Junior College umpire & SDCBUA President) & Jordan Shepard (Former MiBL umpire and College umpire)
. WBSC Europe Clinic (World Baseball & Softball Confederation) in Modena, Italy – February 2022
- Instructor: Zdenek Zidek, MiLB Umpire & WBSC Europe Baseball Umpiring Committee Director
. French D1 & D2 umpire Clinic – Paris – 2020
- Instructors: Serge Makouchetchev (French umpire who worked the 2016 WBC Qualifier in New York), Peter Brink and Edwin A. Louisa, WBSC Dutch Umpires (Edwin worked the World Baseball Classic in 2023, and both the U23 World Cup in Columbia and the WBSC Premier 12 in 2024)
. Little League Clinic – Kutno, Poland – March 2019
- Instructor: Sean Guilday
Every game I worked in either European tournaments, Little League, Challenge de France or French Championship Semi-Finals or Finals, has been supervised. I always gain a lot of information from these supervisions and I always look forward to receiving more!
Experience in France
. I started umpiring in the French Divisions 2 & 3 in 2013
. French Division 1 since 2016
Adult ball, highest level in France with a lot of players from the United States, the Dominican Republic, Cuba… and pitchers like Mathias Lacombe, the first French pitcher to be drafted by a MLB franchise, the White Sox, in 2023.
Also, a dozen of players were drafted by NCAA teams in recent years.
. French All-Star Games: 2016 @3B – 2017 @3B & 2018 @ HP
French National Team vs. the best foreign players playing in the French D1 championship
. Championship semi-finals : 2018, 2021, 2022 & 2023
. Championship Finals 2022 (Game 4 @ HP)
. Championship Finals 2023 (Games 1 & 5 @ HP)
. Challenge de France (Top 8 Division 1 teams Tournament) : 2019, 2021 (Championship game @2B), 2022 (Championship game @ HP) & 2023 (Championship game @ HP… during 13 innings!)
Experience in Europe & in the U.S.
. Collegiate Baseball League Europe – European Tournament – 2015 – 2016 & 2017
. French U18 National Team Vs Dutch U18 National Team – 4 games – 2017
. Swedish Division 1 – Sölvesborg Vs Stockholm – August 2018
. Little League Europe & Africa Regional Tournament – Kutno, Poland – 2018 (Championship game @HP)
. European Championship Juveniles U12 – Czech Republic – 2019 (Championship game @1B)
. Little League Europe & Africa Regional Tournament – Kutno, Poland – 2019
. European Championship U23 – Verona, Italy – 2021 (Championship game @3B)
. Little League Senior Europe & Africa Regional Tournament – Novara, Italy – 2022 (Championship game @HP)
. European Confederation Cup Senior – 2022 – Rouen, France
. European Championship U15 Qualifier – 2022 – Budapest, Hungary (Championship game @3B)
. European Champions Cup Senior – 2023 – Amsterdam & Bussum – The Netherlands
. Senior League Little League Europe & Africa Tournament – July 2023 – Novara, Italy
. Senior League Baseball World Series – July 29 – August 5, 2023 – Easley, SC – USA :
• US Championship game @ Home plate
+
• World Series Championship game @ 2nd Base
Since September 2023
Since September 2023, I’ve been working with several associations in San Diego, North County and Orange County:
- San Diego County Baseball Umpire Association
- San Diego Adult Baseball League
- North County Adult Baseball League
- Black & Blue Umpire Association
- Pacific Coast Athletic Conference
I’ve worked more than 370 games in California, Arizona, Nevada and even in Washington! And different levels and rules sets:
- Pony League
- Little League
- Travel ball
- Adult ball
- High-school
- Junior College
- And a dozen scrimmages at SDSU and USD
The 2025 season
⋅ I started working Junior College Baseball in the PCAC (Pacific Coast Athletic Conference)
⋅ 19 regular season games with PCAC
⋅ 90% of my high-school games are Varsity
⋅ I was assigned to a high-school game at San Diego Petco Park on April 19
⋅ I’ll be working the Collegiate summer baseball in San Diego
⋅ I’m planning to attend the NCAA umpire Clinic
References
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference:
- Assigner: Pete Lopez
- lopez@helixcharter.net
- 619-922-3961
San Diego County Baseball Umpire Association:
- President: Ryan Bell
- rrb_008@yahoo.com
- 619-818-6178
San Diego Adult Baseball League:
- Assigner: Jamie Dambois
- sdablumpjamie@gmail.com
- 619-392-2950
North County Adult Baseball League:
- Assigner: Chris Rutz
- ca.dist70umpire@yahoo.com
- 760-522-8727
Umpire Focus Camp:
- Adam Dowdy:
- umpirefocus@gmail.com
- 480-280-8504
AP Western States Umpire Clinics:
- Anthony Prater:
- apwesternstatesumpireclinics@gmail.com
- 702-544-4340
Bonus
Gallery
