Quote:
Originally Posted by MD Longhorn
Fair question.
I've never seen (while umpiring or observing umpires):
A) A thrown ball hit a discarded bat.
B) A runner or fielder trip over a discarded bat.
C) A play affected in any way, positive or negative, by a discarded bat
I do want to ask ... which of these problems have you seen happen that you and your association is trying to avoid by moving the bat?
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Not in softball but in baseball I have seen:
A thrown ball hit a discarded bat a couple of times.
A fielder (catcher) trip over a discarded bat.
Runners trying to avoid a discarded bat several times.
So therefore "C)" is true.
If they have time I quite often see either catchers move a bat or a scoring runner grab the bat.
I have also seen professional umpires move or even pick up a bat. Because they have 3-4 umpires on the field they sometimes have more time to do this than a PU in a one-man or two-man game so it may or may not be practical for a smaller crew to do so.