Courtesy Runner

[mikfish711]

Came up this past weekend....Can you run for a catcher that has not caught yet but will catch the following inning?

 

[Comp]

No, pitcher and catcher are identified as the last player to physically play the position, except in the top of the first inning, and then they are identified as those players on the lineup card.

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[The Man In Blue]

That was an easy one! I was afraid you were going to ask who the courtesy runner should be.

 

[uncdrew]

Sometimes I actually wonder if anyone is paying any attention.


I wouldn't care at all if the rule vanished. So the catcher is on second base when the inning ends. Not the end of the world. Coach takes a few pitches, girl gets gear on, game continues...

 

[grcsftbll]

That was an easy one! I was afraid you were going to ask who the courtesy runner should be.

Me too! Three different umpires had three different rules at a tournament we were in recently. I'm not sure any of them matched the rule in the tourney packet we got.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Sometimes I actually wonder if anyone is paying any attention.


I wouldn't care at all if the rule vanished. So the catcher is on second base when the inning ends. Not the end of the world. Coach takes a few pitches, girl gets gear on, game continues...

I agree with this 110%. The purpose of the rule is NOT so your pitcher and catcher don’t have to work as much. The purpose is to speed up the game ... it NEVER speeds up the game. (See next response for more on that)

I tell coaches in my pre-game that they are to have courtesy runners ready if they are going to use them. They never do. I have instructed play to resume while the coach fiddled around with figuring it out. I’m not waiting while you decide if you want Sarah Beth who is at the end of the dugout talking to her boyfriend or Mary Kate who is in the bathroom.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Me too! Three different umpires had three different rules at a tournament we were in recently. I'm not sure any of them matched the rule in the tourney packet we got.

No excuse for this, but it is because of the yearly changes to the rule, the variations within the rule (pool play vs. bracket), and the the local tournament deciding to do something different. No, sorry, the actual cause is umpires not listening to their pre-tournament instructions from their UIC and/or not reading the materials that should have been sent to them.

 

[grcsftbll]

I'm sure they have a lot to keep up with, and it seems like every tournament you go to has a different rule. I will say that the TD for this tournament was great. He always sends out a full packet by Wed before the tournament so you get plenty of time to look at it and learn the rules.

 

[eddieq]

In the same vein, at the Special Olympics Summer Games, we kept reminding the coaches to use the courtesy runner for their catcher. The wording I got from my UIC was, "Strongly encourage it". The only problem was that they would swap out the catcher and then when the sides switched, the catcher was still futzing with the gear. I guess it would have been worse if the catcher was on base and THEN had to spend all of that time with the gear.

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

And from what I’ve seen generally there’s no penalty for an improper courtesy runner, other than once discovered she must be replaced...talk about not speeding things up...