[greymule]

In all your cases, the defense appealed before the next legal/illegal pitch. Therefore, the batter who should have batted is out, any outs made on a play stand, and any advance is nullified. If the BR reached base, he is always removed from the base.

However, rule 7-2-C-4 is badly written. (What? In the ASA rule book?) Because it is numbered at the same level as 2 and 3, it appears to stand alone as a general rule under 7-2-C. However, it is meant to fall under 7-2-C-3 (if the error is discovered after the next legal/illegal pitch) so the rule should read:

7-2-C-3

If the error is discovered . . . bench or dugout area:

a. The turn at bat of the incorrect batter is legal . . . until reached again in the regular order.

b. No runner shall be removed . . . becomes the legal batter.

Rule 7-2-C-4 pertains to situations where the error is discovered after the next legal/illegal pitch, but it unnecessarily mentions what is done when the error is discovered before the next legal/illegal pitch. So the logic has broken down. Put simply, if we're talking about errors discovered after the next legal/illegal pitch and gratuitously throw in something about part 2, we create confusion.

What this rule is saying is that if because of failure on the part of the defense to appeal, the proper batter happens to be on base, that runner is not removed from the base but remains on base and is skipped over without penalty. Example: B4, proper batter, singles. B2, improper batter, also singles. B3 gets a base on balls. (As soon as a pitch was thrown to B3, B2's at bat became legal. Therefore, B3 was the proper batter and is properly on 1B.) The next legal batter is now B4, but he's on 3B. In this case, "The correct batter merely misses his turn at bat with no penalty. The batter following the correct batter in the batting order becomes the legal batter." So B4 is skipped and B5 bats.