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Originally Posted by baldgriff
I have had conversations similar to this with other umpires and frankly it seems to me that it is nearly impossible to actually swing without your front foot coming down before making contact with the ball. Now I dont do FP at all so I dont have the "slap" hitters in SP. When I watch any hitting instruction the front foot has to plant in order to clear your hips and swing with any force at all.
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I can guarantee you that it is possible to hit the ball with a foot not on the ground. I often see slap hitters in SP. Lefties with speed just put the ball on the ground and beat it out. Most infielders are playing so far back, it's a pretty good play.
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I have made this call in SP because it is much more obvious. This year is the first that I have spent watching much FP. To be honest I have not seen any case where the batters foot is in the air when contacting the ball. All of them have the foot down. Now I will grant that the Home Plate umpire just wont be able to know for certain. However, the base umpires should be able to see this without much distraction, especially the 3rd base ump on a LH batter (which seem to slap more than RH from what I have seen).
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If you are a BU and make that call, your car better be running in the parking lot.