There have been a couple of plays over the 2016 season that have me scratching my head. There are two plays that come to mind. This is college baseball, by the way.
The first scenario has happened over thirty times throughout the season. It is the Hit By Pitch. The umpire administration has started implementing a "Get Out of the Way" protocol in which a player must attempt to get out of the way of a pitch. The reason this play has baffled me is because it gone against us whether we are on offense of in the field. For instance, our five-hole hitter, was hit in his first three at-bats but was called back each time because he "did not attempt to get out of the way." Growing up, I was always taught to turn your shoulders, tuck the chin, and lower the bat, but nowadays that is deemed as trying to get hit. First off, how can you award a pitcher for making a bad pitch? Second off, if a batter is too close to the plate and leans into a pitch would it not be a strike if would have got out of the way? So, why then would it be called a ball if the batter did lean into it? Lastly, the inconsistency of this call has left me speechless. Another instance: Our leadoff hitter gets hit on 3-2 count. He starts walking down the line and the umpire orders him to come back because he leaned into. The batter was halfway down the line when he ordered him back. The player gets back to the batter's box and by rule the pitch is a ball, so the umpire grants him a base on balls. The next half inning their two-hole hitter was at the plate. He had an open stance and took his stride with his lead foot to the batter's box line beside the plate. The first pitch hits him and his granted first base with his momentum going toward home plate when the pitch arrived and did not even flinch to get out of the way.
The second scenario happened four times (twice on offense and twice on defense) and all four times were in the opposing teams favor. For the sake of your time, I will refer to two instances in which were big situations. During the regular season, we had runners at second and third, two outs with our clean-up hitter in the batter's box. It was late in the game and the score was tied. The pitcher took his time in his stretch and our hitter called time just before the pitcher started his motion. The pitcher, hearing our hitter call for time, stops mid-delivery, which is a balk. The umpire declares that a verbal call for time from a hitter cannot cause a balk, which is the correct call. During the conference tournament with the same scenario except we were in the field and the opposing team was batting. First and third, two outs, score tied toward the end of the game. Our closer comes set and glances at the runners. The batter calls time, our catcher shows his mitt and hands after hearing the batter call for time at the same time that our pitcher motions towards the plate. He stops mid-delivery and the ump ordered a balk in the which the go ahead run scored.
Thank you for taking your time to go through and read all of this. Please add any explanation or further analysis.