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Originally Posted by UMP25
You're citing a rule that is not applicable here. We're not talking about batting out of order; rather, we're addressing a batter who shouldn't have reached the base because his at-bat wasn't completed.
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I really believe that this is a BOO situation. I'll try to explain my thought process here.
Let's say that we have Able, #20, batting in the second slot. He steps to the plate and aquires a 2-2 count. Now skip wants to change batters for some reason. He brings in a legal sub, Baker, #21. The line up now has Baker hitting in the second slot until Skip feels like replacing him. We should all be able to agree on this.
Now as for the OP. We need to concern ourselves with the batter at bat when the balk was called. Let's call him Able, #20. Lets also say he occupies the second slot in the line up. The third spot is occupied by Baker, #21. In the OP, Able's at bat was completed (according to Rule 6.04) by Baker. This is where BOO comes in to effect. Because the second slot in the line up was completed by that player listed as occuping the third slot. The exact wording for BOO is "(a) A batter shall be called out, on appeal, when he fails to bat in his proper turn, and another batter completes a time at bat in his place."
According to the rules, if Able goes to first (becomes a runner) when his time at bat is not over, the player who finishes his at bat just did 1 of 2 things:
1) Became a legal un-announced substitute (if he wasn't in the line up)
2) Batted out of order (if he was listed in the line up already, which Baker was)
Now, pick apart this post and show me the error of my thinking. I'm open to having my mind changed.
