Quote:
Originally Posted by DeputyUICHousto
Make the batter's box more narrow...this way, a pitcher knows he can hit the inside corner with the knowlege the ball won't be coming back at him at 100mph...oops, 98 mph. Make the batter's get up on the plate...and enforce the rule!
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A couple years ago the box was widened and then returned using the same excuse.
AFAIC, the excuse is nothing more than just that, an excuse, and a weak one at that, for playing t-ball.
It is slow pitch softball. Anyone who cannot avoid hitting a ball someplace should consider taking up golf, or maybe competitive rock, paper, scissors.
"To avoid forcing the batter to hit up the middle" has also been used as an excuse against home run limits and pitch height limits. The players will use anything as an excuse to be able to keep hitting cheap HRs.
The players are already whining about the .52/275 ball which has been introduced in some areas. The ball sucks, it knuckles, it turns to mush, etc. all which is a load of crap. The ball still exits the bats at 98 MPH, but impact is only a third of that which would fracture a human scull. The present ball being used in ASA SP has an impact at 50% higher than the force needed to cause that fracture. The key is the HR hitters will still be able to hit HRs with the presently legal ASA bats while the pretenders have to start learning how to deal with simple basehits. And, of course, has already surfaced as just another excuse that will inevitably lead to "forcing" the batters to hit up the middle.
Go figure.
The good news is that the introduction of this ball may reduce, if not eliminate, the non-approved bat list. But we all know how slow ASA is with this type of change.