HBP in the head.

[Bfair]

Originally posted by cowbyfan1
Fed rules. Pitcher throwing fast ball slow enough he could not get a speeding ticket in a school zone. Curverball comes in, does not break. Batter does not flinch at all and takes it in the helmet. All to obvious he was wanting to take it as my deade Granny could have moved out of the way.

Do you give him first??

I personnaly am torn about it. I can see both ways. Yeah it is in the head and most people would not say a word to give him first. But you know there will be people still saying he has to move per the rules. I would be happy to give him first with the slightest of movement to "avoid" but like I said, he did not even flinch.

Let's play it this way too. Batter ducks his head into the strike zone and takes it there. Call it a strike and keep him at home? This really isn't 3rd world as I have see batters come really close to doing this, mostly on big breaking curves.

Very dependent upon level of play and how obvious the action, or lack thereof, is to all---judgment factor. If any doubt exists then award the base. Fastballs typically get awards.

As for the head in the strikezone, I once kept a batter there that got hit in the helmet after ducking a gravity aided curve (JV level). It was very obvious to me, and apparently to others. Very few comments came after my explanation that the pitch was in the zone, and it was strike 3 on the batter. Just be certain the pitch was there---any benefit of doubt goes to batter in this situation.


Just my opinion,

Freix