Officials' Quarterly

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally posted by officialtony
It doesn't make any case for the umpire to use his discresion and call it a strike even though it isn't ( remember the strike zone is " over the plate " and this ball probably hit the batter before it got there ). I think it would take more courage to follow the rule and place him on 1st than it would to call him out because you don't like what he did.

Why would you assume the ball probably hit the batter before it entered the strike zone? I have had quite a few batters intentionally let the ball hit them by sticking their elbow or knee into the strike zone. On these occasions, I always call "Time, that's a strike!" If it is strike three, too bad, they're out. The same when they make no attempt to get out of the way of a pitch when I have judged them to have had the opportunity to do so. I call "Time, Ball! Stay right there!"

I think it takes more courage to make these calls, because the offensive coach usually gets really pissed off. Usually it's the same coach that says "he didn't make an attempt to get out of the way, Blue!," when the other team's batter gets drilled with an inside fastball that was impossible to dodge.