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Fed Sub Situation
This situation came up during our training class tonight. The group was mixed on how to handle it, so I'm bringing it here. The situation was in softball, but it can easily happen in baseball.
Bottom of the 7th, home team down by a few runs. Bases loaded, two outs. OC comes out and says, "I'm bringing in #20 Jones for #30 Smith." The umpire repeats it back, gets an affirmation, then repeats the sub to defense scorekeeper. #20 comes up to bat and hits a single, scoring two.
Before the next hitter enters the box, OC comes out to the umpire: "Blue, I made a mistake. #20 Jones was supposed to be hitting for #10 Washington, whose spot was just up." The umpire looks at his lineup and sees, in order:
10 - Washington
12 - White
30 - Smith -- 20 Jones
...
What do you do?
Part of the room said that the coach OBVIOUSLY meant the sub was for the current batter. Personally, I don't care what the coach's intent was -- that's not my job. He made a legal substitution for a player; granted, the player wasn't batting, running, or in the field, but it's still a legal substitution. That player then batted out of order. Call the batter out, no runs scored, game over.
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