Hit Batters...ugh!!!

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I might have missed something...if you swing and the ball makes contact with your hand, it is a foul ball yes? Or is it a strike?

 

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I believe it is a dead ball strike. Of course, I am most likely wrong...lol.

 

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I might have missed something...if you swing and the ball makes contact with your hand, it is a foul ball yes? Or is it a strike?

By definition, a foul ball can only result from a batted ball.

A batted ball is one that first touches the bat, not the batter.

A pitch that first touches the batter can never become a batted ball.

And, NO...the hands are NOT considered to be "part of the bat"...EVER! They are a part of the batter...ALWAYS!

When the batter swings at the pitch and the pitch first touches the batter, the ball is immediately dead and a strike is added to the batter's count.

 

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Well, the responses here prove that it's not just some umpires that get confused by this rule...

"Player hit by pitch while attempting to bunt and does not pull the bat back."

ASA does NOT require the batter to "pull back the bat" to take the pitch. A bat held over the plate does not automatically equal an offer at the pitch. If the bat is just held there, with no movement toward the ball, it's not considered "an offer" or "an attempt to bunt the pitch".

"A lefty stuck the bat out in a bunt positon, ran through the box, never pulled the bat back, and was hit on the TOP HAND. Ump awarded her first, not calling her out for bunting a foul third strike on a bunt attempt."

Do you really think that if a pitch hits the batter on the hand that it is a foul ball? Not even close, not even close...

Much respect for your knowledge, but I don't think you read the post clearly or I didnt explain it clearly. The umps are not disputing they offered, but instead they are saying they didn't have time to not offer. They are saying that they would call a strike if it was any age group, but 10u. This has helped us & hurt us, but they are wrong! When we brought the rule book out, all 3 said that my rule, no matter what the book says.

 

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OK Bretman, now I am totally lost.....How can a bunter due more to "offer" than square around and advance through batters box, and then be rewarded for not pulling the bat back and RUNNING INTO THE BALL? If you are saying she has to "poke" at the ball, then you and ASA really need to review this, as we are screaming at our girls not to punch but to catch and guide. The umps up here in NWO all say they were told the lack of pull back was a point of emphasis this year. AS far as hit in hand-at Stingray two years ago, lefty DD was hit in the hand on a curve that she was trying to back away from. She was rewarded with a broken bone and a strike call.....I am only 46, but I learn something new every day....

 

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The umps up here in NWO all say they were told the lack of pull back was a point of emphasis this year.

If they're ASA umpires telling you this...well, they are a little mixed up.

For over 100 years, in both baseball and softball, simply holding the bat out over the plate was NOT to be automatically construed as an attempt to contact the pitch. For instance, if the batter held the bat stationary in the strike zone, but the pitch came in out of the strike zone, the correct call would be a "ball" to the batter. There was never any rule saying that holding the bat over the plate equalled a bunt attempt or that the bat had to be "pulled back" to terminate a bunt attempt.

About three years ago, in the college game, the NCAA rule was modified to say that simply holding the bat over the plate was to be interpreted as "an offer", or "a bunt attempt". If the batter held the bat over the plate, the pitch would be called a strike no matter if it was in the strike zone or not.

This was a major change to how a bunt attempt was judged and interpreted. The change was made with the input of coaches (as are most NCAA rule changes, where the coaches have tremendous input on the rules committee). Mostly, coaches were complaining that strikes should be called where they thought umpires were giving batter's an advantage- even though this was exactly how the rule book said these should be called. The change essentially took the judgment of a bunt offer out of the umpire's hands and called it a strike whether the batter moved the bat toward the ball or not.

And that is how it had been called those first 100 years- and still is to be called in ASA games! The umpire had to judge that the batter actually made some attempt to contact the pitch or move the bat into the path of the ball, not just hold the bat still over the plate. Minus one of those actions, a bunt attempt/offer was NOT to be ruled.

The following year after NCAA revised this rule, NFHS (the governing body for high school softball) made the same rule change. So, this was a point of emphasis...two years ago and for high school ball only, not ASA.

The following year, NSA made the same change. I believe that USSSA may have also (though I don't work any USSSA games). But, as of this date, ASA has not. They still require the umpire to judge movement of the bat toward the ball by the batter before ruling that a bunt attempt or offer at the pitch was made.

Hope all that makes sense!

 

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With all due respect to quality umps like bretman. Why would you want to teach your players to leave this judgement call in the hands of the umpire? Too many things to go wrong for the batter. Pull the bat back and let the ump make the call if you made the right decision or not.