Hottest rule to call this summer!

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I'm not sure what rule a USSSA umpire would show you to "prove" that the pitcher is prohibited from taking a sign while off of the pitcher's plate. Their rule is the same as the high school rule, which is the same as the ASA rule and all the rest.

This is a commonly misinterpreted rule. To say that any of these sanctioning bodies prohibit taking a sign before engaging the rubber is...bull...loney.

What the rules do require is that once she engages the rubber the pitcher must either take, or simulate taking, a sign from the catcher. This requirement is to force the pitcher to pause and not committ a quick pitch.

Before she steps on the rubber, she can take a sign from anyplace she wants- the catcher, her coach, the dugout, Dad in the stands or from the centerfielder if she wants. There is no rule preventing this!

 

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Had it called once as a warning this past weekend in North Ridgeville. Kinda came out of the blue and our pitcher adjusted.

I usually have the catcher slow the pitcher down by delaying the sign a little longer when I think that she's rushing herself. This pitcher, at times, will rush herself and ignore the sign from time to time, so he actually did us a favor and she made the adjustment immediately.

If she had been called for a ball or an illegal pitch, I would have questioned the ruling.

 

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This isn't supposed to be a cat and mouse game of trying to catch the batter off guard. Pitchers already have a tremendous advantage in this game.

Bretman, How do you figure pitchers have a tremendous advantage in this game? Anymore with composite bats, pitching distances being moved back, and every rule prohibiting the pitcher from getting any advantage; i.e. hop, how can you say the pitcher has the tremendous advantage? Girls are wearing face masks in the infield now because of batter advantage not the pitchers.

 

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Bretman, How do you figure pitchers have a tremendous advantage in this game? Anymore with composite bats, pitching distances being moved back, and every rule prohibiting the pitcher from getting any advantage; i.e. hop, how can you say the pitcher has the tremendous advantage? Girls are wearing face masks in the infield now because of batter advantage not the pitchers.

WOW! I guess these composite bats tell the batter what pitch, speed and where the pitch is coming. Pitching distance, if a pitcher is good at her craft a HUGE advantage more distance means more movement now if she just throws heat she's going to get crushed.;&

 

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Good for your umpire, because he is right!

The batter has ten seconds to get positioned in the box and may use every last one of those seconds if she wishes. And, if you read the pitching rules, the pitcher may not attempt a pitch when the batter is off-balance or not ready or set.

As Big Dan said, many umpires will give the "Do Not Pitch" sign if it looks like the pitcher is getting ready to pitch and the batter is not ready. This is a basic tool of good game management.

This isn't supposed to be a cat and mouse game of trying to catch the batter off guard. Pitchers already have a tremendous advantage in this game. Umpires should not be giving them an even bigger advantage by letting them pitch before the batter is ready- not just by the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play, but by RULE.

Is there a high school rule that describes this? We play a team in HS and a particular pitcher consistently pitches the second the batter's 2nd foot touches the ground unless the umpire is calling time...and the umpires have allowed this

 

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WOW! I guess these composite bats tell the batter what pitch, speed and where the pitch is coming. Pitching distance, if a pitcher is good at her craft a HUGE advantage more distance means more movement now if she just throws heat she's going to get crushed.;&

You're right the bat doesn't tell her which pitch to swing, but it does produce bigger hits. Sure more movement on the distance but also more reaction time is given to the batter. Maybe it's a wash. I certainly don't believe the pitcher has a tremendous advantage.

 

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While there are a handful of hitters with a legit BA over .500, there are not many. Thus the pitcher "wins" more than half the time, usually more than 70% of the time. I'd go with that being an advantage.

If we want to talk BB, nobody in MLB has hit even .400 for over 60 years. While I wouldn't claim to even be able to foul off a pitch from a major league pitcher, I know I could get someone out if I was pitching. Obviously not on a regular basis, but sooner or later, someone would hit an at-em ball! (check out BP sometime and see all the "outs".)

 

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This also is about safety. What most people don't seem to understand is that Umpires are liable for what happens on the field, If we allow the pitcher to pitch before the batter is ready and serious injury occurs those parents wont be happy and will be looking for a Lawyer.

 

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Bretman, How do you figure pitchers have a tremendous advantage in this game?

How many batters bat a thousand?

If your team batting average is .500, I guess you could say it's a coin toss. If your team average is less than .500, then who is more often successful- the batter or the pitcher?

 

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Is there a high school rule that describes this? We play a team in HS and a particular pitcher consistently pitches the second the batter's 2nd foot touches the ground unless the umpire is calling time...and the umpires have allowed this

Rule 6-2-4 covers this. It prevents the pitcher from pitching before the batter has taken her position. "Taken her position" means set up such that she is fully ready to receive a pitch- NOT the instant that her feet touch the ground within the batter's box.

 

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We got a warning this weekend that our pitcher had to have her hands separated while appearing to take the sign. Part and parcel of the same rule that requires you to be on the rubber while appearing to take the sign. All designed to stop quick pitches.

 

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We got a warning this weekend that our pitcher had to have her hands separated while appearing to take the sign. Part and parcel of the same rule that requires you to be on the rubber while appearing to take the sign. All designed to stop quick pitches.

This was called on us this weekend, new pitcher anxious to get started. We were called for illegal pitch, which is the correct call.

We also seen illegal pitches called last weekend on several pitchers being outside the "lane", which was good.

Crow Hopping still seems to be the consistent miss by blue.

 

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I'm not sure what rule a USSSA umpire would show you to "prove" that the pitcher is prohibited from taking a sign while off of the pitcher's plate. Their rule is the same as the high school rule, which is the same as the ASA rule and all the rest.

This is a commonly misinterpreted rule. To say that any of these sanctioning bodies prohibit taking a sign before engaging the rubber is...bull...loney.

What the rules do require is that once she engages the rubber the pitcher must either take, or simulate taking, a sign from the catcher. This requirement is to force the pitcher to pause and not committ a quick pitch.

Before she steps on the rubber, she can take a sign from anyplace she wants- the catcher, her coach, the dugout, Dad in the stands or from the centerfielder if she wants. There is no rule preventing this!

Absolutely correct Bretman! Here is the USSSA 2010 Rule Book. The Pitching Rule is Rule #6:

http://www.usssa.com/usssa/usssa-general/2010FPRules.pdf

Nowhere does it say that a pitcher cannot take a sign off the pitching plate. It only states that when on the pitching plate you must take OR SIMULATE TAKING a signal from the catcher.

Len

 

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Hoping to get our resident OFC umpire expert to give just a little more insight on the pitcher taking her time to deliver the pitch. We've had a few games this summer where the pitcher is taking FOREVER to deliver the pitch while standing on the rubber. None of the umpires ever made a call or even encouraged them to speed it up, but they sure got irritated with our batters calling time. How much time can the pitcher take to deliver?

 

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Is this the same in HS?

 

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For ASA and high school (and, I believe most others, but would need to double check each rule book) the pitcher has 20 seconds to deliver the pitch once she receives the ball from the catcher (while the ball is live) or once the umpire makes the ball live (following a dead ball).

The penalty for this violation is a ball to the batter.

20 seconds of somebody just standing there can seem like an eternity. But the pitcher may legally use every last one of those 20 seconds if she wishes. I know that the few times this year where I had a pitcher taking her time, I've started a silent count in my head (one thousand- one, one thousand- two...) and usually hit about 15-17 seconds before she delivers the pitch. I've never hit 20 and had to call a ball.

 

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Conversely, is there a rule that states the batter must be in the the batter's box within a certain amount of time. I remember a few years ago our batter had a strike called against her because she kept going down to the 3rd base coach to get the sign explained to her and was slow coming back. Also, my DD is a groove pitcher, she pitches gets the ball back and is on the rubber ready to go, she isn't one of those that does a lap around the pitching circle fixing her hair and what not. Sometimes the batter will take extra time to get her out of her groove, I always assumed there was no limit to it and part of the game. But if there is a rule for the pitcher having to delivery within a certain time frame, is there one for a batter to be ready to bat? Just a wondering fool...!

 

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Yes, the batter has 10 seconds to take her place in the batter's box. Failure to do so can result in a penalty strike.

In addition, for ASA and high school, batters are required to keep one foot in the box between pitches. She may leave the box in certain cases (if she hits the ball, if she's off balance after a swing, on a wild pitch or passed ball, to avoid being hit by a pitch) but otherwise must keep at least one foot in the box. Again, a penalty strike may be called if she does not.

This is a rule that umpires are directed to call only after issuing a warning and only if the batter is creating unecessary delays in the game. It's a rule designed to speed up the game, not for the umpire to be a rule Nazi about and bang out penalty strikes left and right. A simple, "Come on, batter, let's go", usually gets them in the box and keeps the game moving.

I have had to call this exactly once this year. A batter stepped out to get a sign from the third base coach. After she did, for some reason she just stood there. She wasn't even looking toward third by then- she was just kind of staring into centerfield. I don't have any idea what the heck she was doing. I told her to take her position in the box and she just stood there, staring out into the field, completely ignoring me. So I told her again and started a silent count to 10. After two warnings and probably 20 seconds she's still just standing there, so I called a strike.

Her coach blew up on me about that. But she had two warnings and twice the allotted time to get set. Plus, this was a timed game, the clock was running down, her team was ahead and likely didn't want another inning to start and her just standing there was delaying the game.

 

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There is also the rule stating that the pitcher has 10 seconds to deliver the pitch after her hands come together. Great tool for messing with an aggressive batter's timing.

 

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Over the years the pitching game has been changed so that there can be more offense added to the game. I believe umpires are hopefully understanding the rules pertaining to pitching better. ie, finally calling illegal pitches in the NCAA play offs. If they are going to warn the pitchers and take the time out to explain the rule, they need to call it illegal CONSISTANTLY every game. All umpires need to be on the same page to make that call stick.