No available substitutes

[bigwes68]

OK, I just want to preface this one by saying I have no freakin' idea what rule code we were playing under. Apparently this tournament was under the umbrella of "U.S. All-Star Baseball," which I have never heard of, and they had a few special rules for the tournament. So I'm assuming OBR for the most part here.

So we're in the fifth inning, 2 outs, score doesn't really matter. B1 swings at a 3-2 pitch and fouls it straight into his eye. And for those that say that it can't happen...well, it happened tonight. Saw it with my own eyes. Long story short, it starts swelling considerably and he can't continue. And here's the problem -- one of the special tournament rules is that you can bat everyone. The offensive team is doing just that. So the only logical choice is to call him out -- 3 outs, inning over. The offensive coach was surprisingly not upset with it, but some of the fans were. Not like it mattered, really -- the team won 8-3.

Have any of you run into this before? If so, what did you do?

[briancurtin]

the whole "bat everyone" thing is wierd, but i guess you have to do what you have to do. its not like you can put a pinch hitter in for the kid, everyones already in the lineup.

also, i had a teammate in college foul a ball into his eye and broke his "orbital bones" or whatever those bones are around your eyes. he was pretty messed up.

[LDUB]

Whoever wrote the rule making it okay to bat more than 9 players should have thought of that and wrote what the correct ruling on this play would be.

[SanDiegoSteve]

By no means should the batter have been called out. That certainly makes no sense.

Here is an example from one Little League's local league rules on how to properly handle this, and other situations that can arise:

15. Roster as Batting Order. A team's complete roster shall constitute the batting order for each game (see Regulation VIII, Rule 4.04.)



a. In the case of a Player who reaches base safely and must be removed from the game due to injury, his place on the bases shall be taken by the last Player above him in the batting order who made an out.



b. The next Player on the roster will replace a batter, unable to complete an “at-bat” due to injury. This Player shall assume the count of the injured batter.



c. A Player who is obviously injured, ill, or who leaves the park prior to the conclusion of the game shall be removed from the line-up without penalty and may not re-enter the game.



d. Players suffering a "temporary illness," "injury" or "other problem" who cannot take a turn at bat shall cause an out to be recorded, unless the Opposing Manager agrees to "skip" the batter. Opposing Managers shall agree to skips in cases where the injury is clearly temporary (bee stings, wind knocked out of Player, etc.) Managers shall keep in mind that the goal is to have kids playing ball and that batters shall not be skipped simply because they are "stressed."

I don't care for having the next batter assume the count. I like the idea of the last recorded out filling in for the injured batter, but each league using entire rosters as the batting order should have some provision for injury.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by LDUB

Whoever wrote the rule making it okay to bat more than 9 players should have thought of that and wrote what the correct ruling on this play would be.

Little League Baseball has it in the rule book that teams in the Minors division can opt to bat their entire rosters.