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Any time a batter attempts to hit a ball and misses it, it is a strike, regardless where the bat or the ball start or finish. We've all seen batters miss a pitch by two feet; hi, low, early, late. If a batter has his bat moving toward where the ball might possibbly be, regardless how close the bat gets to the ball, in my judgement, he is trying to hit the ball or fool me. Either way it's a strike.
My call is usually a fairly loud and firm 'Yes he did' and a clear strike sign. If I'm lucky it is in the strike zone and we have a called strike, and I will call a firm 'Striiike, (short pause) Called.' It takes the guess work out of it and lets both sides know why it is a strike. On the rare occasion where somone disagrees with my judgement by saying 'I / he was trying to pull it back / down' my response is normally 'Not fast / far enough.'
Location alone means nothing. Last week I had a batter clearly pull the bat back that was slightly over his head. The coach was all over him because it was a sacrifice with a runner moving from 2nd to 3rd. Coach wanted that ball bunted at all cost. Runner was safe at third and I called a ball. But if he was a little slower in his pull back, I would have gladly obliged the coach with a strike.
Putting the bat on the ball durring a bunt attempt is much easier than a swing. The batter has an advantage. I'm not likely to split hairs in the batters favor.
I did Little League for 10+ years (great years)and some coach was always trying to get the kids to spook the pitcher / catcher by putting the bat out there and hoping for a walk / pass ball / error. That's why you see it more on a 3 and 0 count. 'Coach, the bat was just as close to the ball as his last swing' always works. You have to be a little more sensitive to the batters feelings in LL, but I'm not too concerned about the coach. If I a sure the coach is coaching that way, between innings I will let him know I know.
In my judgement, he at least started an attempt. Did he make my judgement believe he seriously changed his mind AND was this action early enough to get the bat reasonably away from the ball.
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