Hurry up defense.

The rule states you have up to 1 minute from the 3rd out of the previous half inning to get ready, but does not state a minimum. IMO, There's no reason that it would take the other team any more time to get off the field and into position than your team to get on. I can see giving the batter a practice swing or two, but I can not picture an umpire not wanting to take you up on getting things going quicker.

I may be wrong but I think what dblinkh1 is asking about is an umpire calling a penalty strike if the batter isnt in the box in 20 seconds.

That is covered under NFHS rule 7-3-1.

The one minute rule is for Pitchers and is NFHS rule 6-2-2.

It would seem that the "defense" he is proposing is to get in position and have the pitcher have the ball and have the umpire count out 20 seconds and call a penalty strike without his pitcher throwing the ball....trying to catch the other team unaware....

The time limit rules are put in place to avoid either team delaying the game...not to unduly penalize the batter...

The rule states that the batter must take his place promptly...and if he doesnt, the umpire then invokes the 20 seconds.....

"Promptly" is my judgment........and I wont be a party to a ploy....I wont hesitiate to penalize a batter for truly delaying the game, but if a team wants a strike, they better throw one....

In one of the better Umpire manuals, (BRD- CHILDRESS) the author states the 20 second rules are meant to keep the game from being delayed.

Enforcing them in a way not meant to avoid delaying the game, would inject the umpire in the game as a participant and would relegate that umpire to "OOO" or "Smitty" status...

quote:

Originally posted by TarheelUmp:
I can not picture an umpire not wanting to take you up on getting things going quicker.

You got that right.

I haven't employed this tactic for the sake of getting a free strike. I usually employ it after an especially long at bat and I think I can get a quick 3outs and put them back in the field with as little mental break as possible. I also know it usually rattles the other teams between innings routine.
I have only done this a few times as it also can backfire on me if my pitcher walks the first batter because he isn't ready either.

The only time I've ever employed this tactic as a coach is when we're the visiting team and behind late in a timed game (no new inning after X:XX).

In those situations, you want to get out there, get batter up and have the pitcher throw three consecutive out pitches and give you another shot at hitting by starting another inning.

I've seen that situation just once in HS baseball, at a field with no lights, when the visiting team (us) went ahead in the top of the 10th and the sun was REAL low. In AZ, if you don't complete the game, you revert back to the score at the previous inning. If a tie, you re-start from scratch at a later date. Thus motivation to finish the game when you're in the lead is significant.

Our team ran out and immediately indicated ready for play. Umpire said, "Batter Up!!!", other coach came out to argue and tried to delay. Umpire sent him back to the dugout quickly. Their hitters swung at three straight first strikes and we got it in and won.

The coach should've talked about taking strikes instead of arguing about the hurry up. We were probably within 5 minutes of unplayable conditions

I certainly agree that the umpire should be calling for a batter but I will not penalize the batter if he isn't johnny on the spot. If they are obviously delaying then it might be something, having a team meeting or similar, but they still need a honest chance to change.