this CHANGE, that changed a lot!

[RADcatcher]

( one of these changes to the game that people don't talk about much or maybe because they did not know it was changed )

Not about moving pitching back.
Nope not the techno bats.
Not the ball, or batter's feet have to stay in the Box....
None of the those.

It is
When the rule changed that batters don't have to make an attempt to move out of the way of pitches that may peg them!
Get pegged, Get a free base.

Yep this rule changed the game A LOT
'How so?' you may ask ?

Because it greatly impacted inside pitch locations, and the utilization of the inside river!
( River~ the space between the Plate and the Box)

Result: Another limiting factor that happened to pitchers!
+ More base runners. (with no required action of their own)

* important notation~this change was not in all the different softball rule sets.

 

[Northball]

Agreed it is a major factor. Evoshield wouldn't be a thing without it.

 

[Rolling Hard]

How should the pitcher/coach go about dealing with batters setting up with their elbow in the strike zone? I happens more often than one might think. I have seen ump call no pitch when a batter is hit, but not call it a strike????? Didn't argue the call because it was an unimportant game and we were up 4 or 5 runs.
Evoshields have changed the game and saved a few elbows along the way.

 

[Hillhouse]

How should the pitcher/coach go about dealing with batters setting up with their elbow in the strike zone? I happens more often than one might think. I have seen ump call no pitch when a batter is hit, but not call it a strike????? Didn't argue the call because it was an unimportant game and we were up 4 or 5 runs.
Evoshields have changed the game and saved a few elbows along the way.

like so many things, this ultimately comes down to umpire discretion. I mean, lets face it the entire game is umpire discretion!! ball/strike, out/safe, fair/foul, left early/left at release, crowhop/leap, all of these are other examples of umpire discretion. RAD makes an absolutely excellent point, and from a pitching perspective I look at it sadly. They make a move in the right direction 4 years ago by allowing 1 foot on the rubber, then immediately give the hitter the gift of these free bases without moving. I've hit many hitters who were over the plate, and ultimately it's the ump's call if the hitter was in the strikezone or not. And they used to have to "attempt" to get out of the way . And it's not even appealable.

These days pitchers are throwing harder than ever, yet the plate umpire is supposed to see the pitch, make sure the pitcher is in the "lane", has to make fair/foul calls on balls down the line, make sure the slapper didn't step out of the box etc. that I guess this was one less thing they wanted the ump to deal with?? And lets be honest, most umps are paid somewhat handsomely, especially when you consider the 99% of girls tournament run on time limits. $50-60 per game turns into $50-60/hr. That's better than most day job salaries. But for that pay they have to watch all the above things and deal with screaming fans and coaches about how bad they suck. Yes, sometimes they deserve it. No, not because of a bad call, we all make those. I know I've seen things on TV and immediately thought SAFE, only to see on a replay the umpire was right. But, the ones who don't know the rules!!! Who haven't seen a new rulebook since 1975. Who think "present the ball" is still a rule. Who don't know that Gorilla Gold towels are LEGAL!!! We have umps that don't update their rule books for these things but they're going to know the difference between a crow hop and a leap in the new pitching rule????? Call me old fashioned but if someone is getting paid to umpire a sport, they should know the rules. And keep current on new ones. Personally I would never accept money to be an official in soccer, water polo, and countless other sports because I don't know the rules. And no matter how much football I watch, I learn I don't know all those rules either each and every Sunday. Which leads me to the side note that RAD mentioned about this rule of not having to move being different based on which alphabet soup you play: USSSA, PGF, USA, etc. makes it worse. I can't begin to tell you the amount of times I've had pitching students tell me they were called illegal for stepping back in a tournament. The "step back" is legal in some, the start back is legal in others. It seems like umpires forget which code they are working many times and call things illegal that are NOT illegal.

RAD, I couldn't agree more. It still came down to ump discretion on whether the hitter tried to get out of the way or not. But, without that 100% guarantee that getting hit meant a free base, there was a lot more attempts to get out of the way than there is with the new rule currently in place. This was a bad rule change.

 

[Navier]

Biggest change imo.

 

[CoachJD]

How should the pitcher/coach go about dealing with batters setting up with their elbow in the strike zone? I happens more often than one might think. I have seen ump call no pitch when a batter is hit, but not call it a strike????? Didn't argue the call because it was an unimportant game and we were up 4 or 5 runs.
Evoshields have changed the game and saved a few elbows along the way.

Catcher should mention it to the umpire before there's a HBP, especially if it's constantly happening. Put the thought in his head.

A coach can also do it, I guess. "My catcher says all their hitters are setting up with their elbows out over the plate." The umpire's response to this would be telling.

 

[daywalkerdad]

If the batter leans into a pitch is it hbp or a judgement call?

 

[Vertigo]

If the batter leans into a pitch is it hbp or a judgement call?

It is a judgement call. Seen batters called on it during DD’s games - seems like it’s the new trend to lean in while not being blatant about it.

 

[RADcatcher]

*Not an umpire. Definitely ruling verbiage changes so I'm going to say would be good to have an Umpire give us the specific detail in the book on this.

Simply, Seems it is important to know what a legal batting stance is. Speaking up prior to an infraction issue may not be the timely moment.

If a batter is standing in the Box and their feet are within the rule set. Even though their body may be positioned so that their knees, torso, arms are outside the box.
>> The stance itself may not be causing the potential infraction.
>> It is only when the pitched ball hits them that it may be an infraction.

Can point out to an Umpire.
...Hey look their body is really getting in the way of where pitches may go.
And the Umpire can see that.
But it's not an infraction until the pitch hits them.
So really nothing can be done anyway because it's just a batting stance at that point.

>>> If the Umpire clearly missed making a call, potentially to ask in question form is a better way to approach an Umpire.
Hi umpire, hey is it okay for batters body to be outside the box like that when getting hit by a pitch?
Generally then you'll get their observational View of this situation.

What I notice is the times that people approach umpires and try to explain the rules to them, it doesn't work out as well.
Use question format!



( using the word infraction, could be a better word for that moment)

 

[Vertigo]

The umpire would have to deem the “lean into a pitch” intentional, therefore it is a judgement call if it is HBP or not and actually is a reviewable play at the NCAA level.

https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/softball/rules/2022-23PRWSB_MajorRulesChanges.pdf