Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveASA/FED
I think the real issue here was to take the judgement away from the umpire that does NOT award the base to a frozen batter that gets drilled with a curve that broke late and they froze because that umpire didn't judge the batter to have attempted to avoid being hit. And I have seen this more than once personally had a LONG discussion with those umpires about it but those umpires are out there, this rule removes their judgement on this situation.
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Which, I believe is the wrong way of taking care of the situation. Educating and training those umpires instead of taking away their requirement to judge is the better solution, in my opinion.
I give the batter the maximum benefit of the doubt. But when there is no doubt that the batter had ample time to avoid the pitch, she shouldn't be rewarded. So what if the previous rule still required the offense to compensate for a defensive error? There are plenty of rules out there that do that.
A runner, for example, is still required to avoid getting hit by a batted ball that gets by an infielder if there's another infielder in position to make a play. Should we change that rule to eliminate that compensation the offense must still give to a defensive error?
How about eliminating the rule on uncaught third strikes? If the offense makes the error (swinging and missing a pitch), the defense must still make the play to retire the offense. Should we now change the rule so that the catcher no longer has to retire the batter to compensate for her error?
Again, I'm only addressing the specific instance where a batter
clearly lets the pitch hit her. Short of that, umpires should be trained to understand that the batter should be given her base. If they have that much trouble with their judgment here, then how does that speak of their judgment to call Balls/Strikes, Safes/Outs, and Fair/Foul?