Batter takes first with only 3 Ball count.. what do you do?

I'm just a parent with a newly downloaded rule book, but I think its ball three and the rest is just the defense throwing the ball around for fun.

When the smoke clears, I'd ask the batter to assume his position in the batter's box for the next pitch with a 3-x count.

Of course, I'm only on page 41 so I'm sure somebody who actually knows the real answer will respond.

quote:

I'm just a parent with a newly downloaded rule book, but I think its ball three and the rest is just the defense throwing the ball around for fun.

When the smoke clears, I'd ask the batter to assume his position in the batter's box for the next pitch with a 3-x count.

Of course, I'm only on page 41 so I'm sure somebody who actually knows the real answer will respond.

I can't wait to hear how it should be ruled either. Your answer is kinda what I was thinking though...

I'm with JMoff - run scores and bring him back with the 3 ball count and however many strikes he has. Ball was / is never dead in this situation.

R1 scores, batter is back in the box. Depending on the level, some umpires would have called out "Ball 3" to avoid that kind of situation.


I'm old school...the defense has the responsibility of knowing the situation.

I can see all of your points, my feeling is that it is the coaches and batters responsibility to know what is going on, and that if the batter wants to leave the field by stepping into the dugout, then he is out. The only hiccup that I see with that is that I called him out at the plate, so I have put him at a disadvantage. I do agree that the ball is live, the run should score, I guess the only real problem here is that I should have known exactly what was happening, never calling him out at home, simply responding that he is finally back in the box where he belongs! lol But then I am sure that the defense would argue that he ran the bases and caused the whole mess.... either way, no one caught it, including me, until after the fact. The batter was the final out of the inning and everyone just cleared the field and continued on.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:
R1 scores, batter is back in the box. Depending on the level, some umpires would have called out "Ball 3" to avoid that kind of situation.


I'm old school...the defense has the responsibility of knowing the situation.

I'm in agreement 100%..........its not just the umpire that has the responsiblity to know the situation as well....embarassing as it may be to have let the situation play out, bring the batter back to the plate to complete his at bat and score the run...

What age level is this Jamie? If all this happened and both teams accepted it was out three and changed sides then maybe it was ball four. The offensive team's book should have caught this and brought it to your attention to let him keep the at bat going.

Do you think you could have possibly missed the fact it was ball four and not three and everything that played out was supposed to happen?

Not criticizing you but I've seen things like that happen.

Bring him back to the plate with the three balls but add a strike. If there were already two strikes then he is out. If there were two outs, the run doesn't score.

MST what is the reasoning for adding a strike?

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:
What age level is this Jamie? If all this happened and both teams accepted it was out three and changed sides then maybe it was ball four. The offensive team's book should have caught this and brought it to your attention to let him keep the at bat going.

Do you think you could have possibly missed the fact it was ball four and not three and everything that played out was supposed to happen?

Not criticizing you but I've seen things like that happen.

Certainly things like this can happen....Especially when doing a game solo..........hopefully this was not a HS varsity contest...

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:
MST what is the reasoning for adding a strike?

The FED rule that penalizes a batter who steps out of the box and delays the game.

It didn't sound like a high school game to me, so I ignored this.

This was a jr's LL game. The team cleared the field, I took off my mask, the head scorer called me over (who happened to be the scorer for the team that was batting) and asked me how many balls I had on the count... I looked at my counter and said "oh ****". They said "That's what I thought, oh well, too late now"

So basically you do not enforce the out for leaving the field of play and entering the dugout? Basically my screw up negates his and the defense's?

Start over, whole thing happens again, but you know the count is 3 balls, 2 strikes, kid starts running and the whole thing plays out. You can't call dead ball correct? What do you call when he slides home and they make a play on him? Nothing?