A right-handed batter, who is in the very front of the box, is hit in the left elbow. The umpire rules that the batter elbow was hanging out and made no attempt to get out of the way. Because of her position in the front of the box, the pitch never reached the front edge of the plate. Is it a strike or a ball? Can it be a strike if the ball never gets to the plate?
Hit by pitch or a strike
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As the umpire, what do you do and say when that happens?
- Nov 29, 2009
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Usually they are calling the batter back who is busy trotting towards 1st base in the process of removing the over-sized elbow guard. I'm glad to see that not all umpires automatically give a hit batter a free base when they abuse using a piece of protective equipment.
Dead ball, right here, I usually will make a motion such as sticking knee out or elbow out and then announce it is a dead ball ball or I'm calling it a strike.
- Jun 22, 2008
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Of course, it is a possibility. If it is not in the strike zone or being stopped from entering the strike zone, it should be ruled a ball.
USA still requires a batter to make an attempt to avoid being hit by a pitch, so if no attempt to avoid is made by the batter it is a dead ball ball. Same goes for a batter that purposely attempts to be hit by the pitch even if it isn't a strike. Even NFHS still requires an attempt by the batter to avoid the pitch if the ball is not entirely in the batters box. They also have the same rule about not purposely attempting to be hit.
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