- Oct 3, 2019
- 364
- 43
Well, what if the bat actually made contact with the catcher? Wouldn't the ump have something to say about this?Saw something new in last weekend's tournament.
One particular batter from a team we played had a peculiar warm-up routine, which she did every swing of every at-bat. While in the batter's box, she would swing the bat back like a golf club and basically bring it straight behind her, level with the ground and as far as she could reach it while holding her feet/body in a normal batting stance. Then if the pitch wasn't delivered right away, she'd continue to swing the bat directly behind her back and forth like a pendulum. If the catcher wasn't at least 5' behind her, they were at risk of being hit by the bat during this "warm-up."
It certainly had the appearance of being an intentional way to push the catchers farther away from the plate. Our catchers couldn't even snug up on her after her routine because there was no telling when she was going to twitch back with the bat. If they were in actual proper position, they'd be taking a bat under the chin for sure (ok, it would probably hit their arm and glove first). Perhaps it is just something random that developed over time and is just now her normal routine, but this was a VERY well coached A level team -- I find it hard to believe this wasn't coached and done with a purpose (though it was only one specific batter from that team).
Is this a "thing"? We've played a few years of TB (12U and younger) and my catcher DD has never seen anything like this. Maybe this is just something that's just a new part of the game to get used as we play at higher levels. If so, how do you teach catchers to deal with it? If not, (and I hope it's not a normal thing, because it seemed to me to be both dangerous and unsportsmanlike), what recourse is there? Based on my amateur's review of the rules, nothing in here seems to violate any specific rule (we were playing under ASA rules). In retrospect, she was definitely swinging the bat through the area defined as the catcher's box... if that matters.