Slapper attempting bunt with 2 strikes

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Jul 22, 2015
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We had a similar situation last weekend, but the batter was allowed to "bunt" foul 3 times with 2 strikes and was never called on it. It's a difficult call in my opinion unless you get the opportunity to see the hitter both soft slap and attempt a bunt during the same at bat. I think just by human nature umpires often try to make this call based on what they think the batter intended to do rather than the actual mechanics of what they did. However, I do think slappers get away with quite a bit in this regard (I see my dd do it often). I'd like to see it called a bunt attempt when the barrel of the bat is simply carried through the zone, regardless of hand position.
 

MTR

Jun 22, 2008
3,438
48
We had a similar situation last weekend, but the batter was allowed to "bunt" foul 3 times with 2 strikes and was never called on it. It's a difficult call in my opinion unless you get the opportunity to see the hitter both soft slap and attempt a bunt during the same at bat. I think just by human nature umpires often try to make this call based on what they think the batter intended to do rather than the actual mechanics of what they did. However, I do think slappers get away with quite a bit in this regard (I see my dd do it often). I'd like to see it called a bunt attempt when the barrel of the bat is simply carried through the zone, regardless of hand position.

It has not been difficult for me since 1966 and hand position is irrelevant
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
I’ll use the NFHS definitions to help ...

SECTION 8 BUNT, ATTEMPTED BUNT, DRAG BUNT
ART. 1 . . . Bunt. A bunt is a legally batted ball not swung at but intentionally tapped with the bat.
ART. 2 . . . Attempted Bunt. Any non-swinging movement of the bat intended to tap the ball into play. Holding the bat in the strike zone is considered a bunt attempt. In order to take a pitch, the bat must be withdrawn–pulled backward and away from the ball.
ART. 3 . . . Drag Bunt. A drag bunt is attempting to bunt the ball by running forward in the batter's box, carrying the bat with her. The movement of the bat is in conjunction with the batter's forward movement.


I’d call particular attention to the definition of drag bunt. With a drag bunt, the batter’s body motion is what is pulling the bat through the zone. With a slap attempt, it is wrist/arm action that is pushing the bat through the zone..

I've gotten into it with umpires over Article 2 before. Is this different in other rule sets? (Or in baseball, maybe?)
 
May 27, 2013
2,353
113
Sorry to bring this back up but this past weekend was surprisingly the first time I heard coaches whining about this to the umpire. This particular umpire was really killing all the lefties (slappers and hitters) for both teams - with an outside pitch that the catcher would catch as she set up behind the outside batter’s box. Dd comes up and has seen this throughout our lineup as we have a few lefties. On strike two she gets that pitch and reaches across the plate and check swings while in motion to knock it foul as there is no possible way anyone could hit that pitch fair unless they stepped across the plate. Other coaches yelling at the umpire it was a bunt attempt saying she never broke her wrists. Luckily he didn’t see it as a bunt attempt so she wasn’t out but my question is this - how come the lefty hitters in the game could do the same type of check swing on strike and there was no questioning? Just because a batter is in motion should not make a difference. Just confuses me why the coaches were going nuts.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
Prepares to blaspheme ...

Because the coaches don’t know any better. They are reacting off of what they thought was called earlier.
 

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