Little league baseball.. Batter bunts but his foot is square on the plate. I called the batter out for being out of the box when making contact with the ball.. is this the right call for the right reason? Thanks!

Ben

Yes
 

Batter has to hit the ball inside of the batter's box. If they are out, they are out.

Peace

Re: Yes
 

Well, technically, a batter doesn't <b>have</b> to be inside the batter's box when he hits the ball. It's just that he's not allowed to strike the ball <b>with one or both feet on the ground entirely outside the batter's box</b>.

A foot or even both feet can be in the air outside the batter's box. Nothing illegal about that.

The majority of a foot or the feet can be on the ground outside the batter's box. Just the tiniest sliver of a batter's heel touching the white line is enough to satisfy the rule.

As you can tell, the rule is designed in such a way that the batter would have to do something blatant or extraordinary to violate it. That's why it's such a rare call.

Sometimes, the Rules Committee did an excellent job of writing a rule. This one is an example of that, in my opinion.

Thanks!
 

I thought that was the case.. just checking on it, because it is such a rare occurance.. the foot was definately not touching any part of the box, it was dead center on the plate.. Thanks for your responses!

Ben

In Fed, if the batter is touching the plate with his foot when he strikes the ball he is out, even if the the heel of his foot is still on the chalk of the box. "touching the plate" is cause to be declared out.

In OBR, batter can be touching the plate and still not illegally hitting the ball if the heel of his foot is still touching the chalk. Touching the plate is not necessarily cause to be declared out in OBR. A foot must be totally out of the chalklines and on the ground when he strikes the ball.

There IS a difference between OBR and Fed.

Just a note,

Steve

Re: Re: Yes
 

You are right. I should have said completely out. That is in essence what I meant in the first place.

Peace

I have found that left-handers have a tendency to swing their left foot around and step on the plate when they bunt. I'm not sure why they do it but all of sudden you have a batter blocking your view because he is on the plate.