[greymule]

As everyone knows, this year ASA removed the phrase "not higher than the batter's head" from its definition of foul tip. In my opinion, this was a proper revision, since some people had long been misled into believing that the height of the batter's head was the determining factor, which it never really was. (Plenty of balls not higher than the batter's head could be caught for outs, and it was possible, especially in FP, for a batter to swing at a pitch over her head and foul tip it.)

But this year for some reason foul tips have become a point of contention in the local SP leagues, with some of our umpires calling me at night after heated arguments to be sure they know the "new" definition of foul tip. They are now calling batters out when F2 catches a ball that spins off the bat—not sharp and direct—but off to the side or visibly spinning upward off the bat, but lower than the batter's head. Of course, the "out" call is correct in these situations—and was last year, too.

Apparently, many SP umpires had long been using the height of the batter's head as the sole criterion for determining whether or not a ball was a foul tip, and so are calling them differently under the "new" rule. Further, in SP, "fly balls" to F2 as distinguished from foul tips must be fairly common, since it isn't even May and this controversy has already erupted several times.

I've been explaining it this way: If the ball is visibly deflected and the catcher catches it—if you didn't need the sound to know the ball hit the bat—it's an out. If the only way you know the ball had nicked the bat is from the sound, it's a foul tip.

Any suggestions on how better to explain it?