Buddies are WRONG
A legal pitch cannot be made without the batter in the box. And in the batter's box means BOTH FEET COMPLETELY INSIDE THE (outside edge of the) LINES.
It truly is a safety issue. The batter is not allowed to hit the ball from locations with his feet outside the batter's box. If you have both the catcher and the batter chasing a wild pitch, someone is going to get hit with the swinging bat - THE BATTER MUST STAY IN THE BOX. That means he must start in the box and remain there.
If the pitcher is threatening to pitch when the batter is not ready, you should have your hand up telling him to hold-on (open palm directed at the pitcher). In a slow pitch game no biggee - this is a no pitch. In a fast pitch game, I'm going to warn the pitcher to pay attention and the second time it happens, I may toss him. In all cases, when your hand is up, it is a dead ball and no pitch can occur.
If the pitcher wants to throw a pissy fit on the first occurrence, toss him then. You control the game - not some pissy fit pitcher.
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"There are no superstar calls. We don't root for certain teams. We don't cheat. But sometimes we just miss calls." - Joe Crawford
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