Quote:
Originally Posted by chapmaja
At what point do you consider the batter trying to bait the pitcher? I think the first time I've got an IP. If the same team is making a regular habit of this, now I have to seriously question if the team is trying to bait the pitcher into an IP or not.
At Rec league or low level travel ball I'm not calling an IP and will kill it with a no pitch. At the higher level I better have a near certainty that the offensive team is baiting the pitcher.
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I'm with you on this. If the pitcher is getting late in the time-between-pitches count, and the batter wants time, I probably either grant it or tell the batter "NO" and keep counting. I could have been less cut-and-dried in my reply, and I'm calling time way more than I'm calling IPs here in the real world...but the scenario in the OP looks like an IP to me.
If a team's batters start asking for time right as the pitcher starts her motion, then that's obvious enough to me that the intent is to disconcert.
I respectfully disagree with Andy that the intent of the batter IN MOST CASES is to disrupt the pitcher's timing. If that was the case, I would have issued far more warnings for this than my current lifetime count of zero. Rather, I suspect the intent is for the batter to refocus and reset herself when a pitch is slow in coming. We're not mind readers, so who knows. Ten or twenty seconds is a long time to stand ready in that batter's box, and the "coaching" that comes from the stands is usually to "make the pitcher reset". IMO, boo to that idea. This isn't baseball: the pitcher gets a certain amount of time to throw and she can use as much or as little of it as she likes. The rule is there to keep the game moving with consistent pace, and granting time to a batter unnecessarily is a great way to slow down the game.
Fed and NCAA have rules covering when a pitcher violates based on a batter's "innocent" actions or simultaneous violations, but USA/ASA does not. I gotta call an IP here.