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I go by whether the batter attempted to get out of the way of the pitch and the benefit of the doubt goes to the batter. The pitcher only owns the area over the plate, or within two inches of the plate, given that a baseball is a little over 2 inches wide. Some batters are frozen by fastballs inside, and they get hit. The location where the batter gets hit has a little bit to do with decision also. Nobody wants to get hit in the elbow, lower arm, or wrist. These could be season enders. Shoulder, butt, thigh, these are areas where a batter mightlean into one. If I see an intentional HBP I call it, otherwise, benefit of the doubt goes to batter. Pitcher only owns the area over the plate.
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