Watching a game recently and a team was obviously trying to break a pithcer's rythmn and was asking for numerous time outs between pitches. Eventually a batter asked for time and stepped out of the box, the request came late and the umpire did not grant the request. The pither continued with the pitched and looked like a strike from where I was sitting. The umpired called it a strike.
The question was asked : what it the ball had been thrown in the dirt would the umpire still called it a strike because the batter was not it the box. I stated that I thought the umpire would call it just like any other pitch, if it was a in the strike zone he would call it a strike and if it was a ball it would be called a ball. The fact the batter was out of the box does not matter.
Was I correct?
Now if the batter went ahead, swung and hit the ball while outside the box he would be called out.
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