Battin Out-of-order question...

[Momo'sDad]

yes, that was one of the lessons I learned..let the out of order batter finish her turn, because IF she gets out, she stays out and the batter who SHOULD have bat is also out...

Thanks for answering my question. I had read it in the ASA rulebook, but have never actually seen it in practice in comp. What I've always seen is either the offensive or defensive team call it and then the change would be made right away, assuming the current balls and strikes. I did not realize until later that the defense only gets the full benefit when they allow the at-bat to be completed.

The scorekeeper and I missed it this past Sunday, so we'll have to be more diligent in the future. It was a situation where the 3rd out of the previous inning was on a pick-off play, but the other team treated the batter who was up at the time as the 3rd out and skipped her to start the subsequent inning.

 

[honus14]

I think we've gotten to the correct answer on this thread, but just to summarize:

B1 is due up, B2 bats instead.

1) If this is discovered while B2 is still at the plate: Replace B2 with B1. B1 inherits any count. No penalty.

2) If this is appealed by the defense after B2 has completed her at-bat but before a pitch to the next batter: B1 is called out. (Think of it this way: it's not illegal to bat out of turn, it's illegal to fail to bat when it's your turn.) Negate any advance due to the improper batter - in this case, take B2 off of the bases. The next batter after B1 is the new batter. (In this particular case, B2 bats again; if the proper batter happens to be legally on base - say a number of batters hit in an oddball order - just skip her). In ASA, ALL OUTS MADE ON THE PLAY STAND! So in the OP, if B2 bats in place of B1, and grounds out . . . guess what? After a proper appeal, we have two outs (the one on B1 for not batting, and the one B2 made at the plate) - two outs with only one batter!

3) If the improper batter is not discovered until after a pitch to the NEXT batter, the improper batter is "legitimized", meaning we pretend she was the proper batter. The next proper batter is whoever follows her in the order. Again, B2 bats, gets a hit. B1 comes up, and takes a strike. Now B2 is okay, because there's been a pitch to the next batter, but B3 is the proper batter, so now B1 is batting out of order.

 

[redhotcoach]

Just another case we had a few months ago....last inning there batter hit, got on first, I saw then it was their #2 hitter not #7. I protested to ump who said that I needed to call it before she batted. To which I replied "how the eff am I suppose to know when I am on the 1st base side and they have no effin numbers on the front?". So they let her stay on 1st, completely skipped #7 and went to #8.

 

[AngelsFan01]

We had a BOO called on us a couple of months ago. The idiot that wrote the line up card (me!) wrote #25 for player #5. After the FIRST pitch the opposing coach tells the umpire that we are batting out of order. The umpire pulls out his lineup card, motions for our coach to come over and explains it to him; they then come over to talk to me (scorekeeper), and I tell them that it's the same player, just the wrong number. Technically it's the "wrong" batter...I get it. So the blue corrects the number on his card, then calls the batter out. So, naturally, I jump right back up and ask what he's doing and he said we were batting out of order, but not to worry because it's corrected for next time. I tell him that because the batter had not finished her at-bat, the "correct" batter replaces the "incorrect" batter and assumes the same count...of course, in this case, they are both the same player. He says that no, the penalty is an out. At this point I'm talking to a wall, but I tell him that it's only an out if the at-bat is complete. Anyway, I showed him the rule after the game and he apologized....says he's been doing it wrong all these YEARS!

 

[honus14]

He's still doing it wrong . . . if the name is right but the number is wrong (in ASA), the remedy is to correct it and play on. The name controls.

 

[AngelsFan01]

I guess that's why the line up card had #, first name, and last name! Didn't even think about that part of it...my head was just stuck on the fact that he was calling her out! At least now he has the penalty/non-penalty part right on a real BOO...I was almost going to go over to the other team's coach and suggest to him that next time he needs to wait until the at-bat is complete before he gets his free out in a real BOO situation...I'm a nice guy, but I decided that I didn't have to be THAT nice! Maybe next time we play that team I can purposely do it again, with rule in hand so that he can learn the lesson too! LOL

 

[honus14]

I was almost going to go over to the other team's coach and suggest to him that next time he needs to wait until the at-bat is complete before he gets his free out in a real BOO situation...I'm a nice guy, but I decided that I didn't have to be THAT nice!

Send him here . . . AFTER the season!

 

[Chewy_06]

At the U10 level, this confuses the umps too.

At our tournament last weekend in the fifth game of the day (thank you mother nature) I threw a batter up out of order, which the other team didnt catch until two batters later then tried to argue that the OOO batter, now at third, should have actually been out (our scorekeeper caught it & proceeded to give me poo over it, but it was already too late & i had to tell her to just go sit down and be verrry very quiet). The ump initially said, correct, she's out. I explained that she was wrong based on two factors: 1 it was too late and 2, she had no way to verify this since she had rejected the lineup card i tried to give her pre-game (for the third time that day despite my suggestions that should a question of an OOO batter arise she would need it). Protest committee sided with me. Didnt end up making any difference in the game - my girls were all mentally fried too!

 

[PGSAKen]

Comp is correct. B2 is out and simply bats again. Any runners that advanced go back to original positions.

If it is called before a play is made then B1 bats and assumes the count.

 

[Ajaywill]

Just to thrown one more wrinkle in here....in ASA play, you get to keep all of the outs made on the play where the incorrect player batted. In HS play, you get to keep any outs made by OTHER runners, but any outs on the incorrect batters are negated.

PLAY: No outs, no runers on base. B1 is due up, B2 bats. B2 hits ground ball to F6 and is thrown out at first base, defense properly appeals the batting out of order.

ASA ruling: B1 is out for failing to bat in her proper spot, the out made by B2 stands, two outs, B2 bats.
HS ruling: B1 is out for failing to bat in her proper spot, the out made by B2 is negated, one out, B2 bats.